BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — The trial of seven health care professionals accused of negligence in the death of soccer great Diego Maradona resumed on Tuesday, nearly a year after the original proceedings collapsed when a presiding judge stepped down after appearing in a documentary about the case.<\/p>\n
The negligence case centers on seven medical professionals accused of failing to provide adequate care in the weeks leading up to Maradona\u2019s death five years ago at a home outside Buenos Aires. Maradona, widely regarded as one of the greatest soccer players of all time, died at age 60 from cardiac arrest while recovering from a procedure to treat a blood clot on his brain.<\/p>\n
The seven defendants are charged with culpable homicide, a crime similar to involuntary manslaughter, which alleges that the accused were aware that their reckless conduct posed a risk and failed to prevent it. If convicted, they face prison sentences ranging from eight to 25 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaradona was abandoned to his fate, condemned to death,\u201d said Patricio Ferrari, one of the prosecutors. He added that with the evidence, the judges \u201cwill see that the defendants were a group of ill-prepared professionals\u201d who \u201cdid nothing to prevent Maradona from dying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among those on trial are physician Leopoldo Luque, Maradona\u2019s personal doctor during the final years of his life, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov and psychologist Carlos Diaz.<\/p>\n
Defence attorneys argue that the captain of Argentina\u2019s 1986 World Cup-winning team suffered from multiple serious medical conditions and that no crime was committed.<\/p>\n
Maradona had suffered a series of medical problems, some because of an excess of drug and alcohol consumption. He was reportedly near death in 2000 and 2004.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeyond the factual, medical and scientific issues, there is also a matter arising from the autopsy. The defence will prove that, unfortunately, Mr. Maradona\u2019s death was the result of a progressive deterioration of his health that at one point simply gave out,\u201d said Vadim Mischanchuk, Cosachov\u2019s attorney.<\/p>\n
Hearings will take place twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Slightly less than 100 witnesses are expected to testify, including family members, people close to the former player, medical professionals and police officers.<\/p>\n
Judges Alberto Gaig, Alberto Ortolani and Pablo Rolon are expected to deliver a verdict in early June.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiego was murdered,\u201d Fernando Burlando, attorney for Maradona\u2019s two eldest daughters and plaintiffs in the case, Dalma and Giannina, said on Tuesday. He added that the defendants \u201cpushed him toward death\u201d and that \u201cDiego had thousands of chances to live.\u201d<\/p>\n
The initial trial ended in a mistrial last May after Julieta Makintach, one of the three judges overseeing the proceedings, stepped down following criticism over her participation in a documentary about the case.<\/p>\n
Makintach withdrew after prosecutors presented footage showing her featured prominently in the documentary \u201cDivine Justice,\u201d which covered events from the aftermath of Maradona\u2019s death, when allegations and suspicions of foul play first emerged, through the start of the trial.<\/p>\n
\u201cI present my resignation with serenity, without renouncing the right to exercise my defence in the appropriate arenas,\u201d Makintach wrote in a letter sent to judicial authorities in June.<\/p>\n
Maradona died on Nov. 25, 2020, weeks after undergoing surgery for a subdural hematoma. He had been admitted earlier that month to a clinic in La Plata, suffering from anemia and dehydration, before being transferred to Clinica Olivos, where he underwent the procedure. After being discharged on Nov. 11, he moved to a home outside Buenos Aires, where he remained under medical supervision.<\/p>\n
A 20-member medical panel appointed to investigate Maradona\u2019s death released a report in 2021, where they accused Maradona\u2019s medical team of acting in an \u201cinappropriate, deficient and reckless manner,\u201d leaving him in agony and without help for more than 12 hours before his death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — The trial of seven health care professionals accused of negligence in the death of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[712,49,48,84,392],"class_list":["post-605163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}