April 19 – An Argentine appeals court has confirmed that eight medical professionals accused of responsibility in the death of football legend Diego Maradona will stand trial.
Neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov and six others will go to trial for homicide with potential aggravating circumstances or intent. They had appealed the initial ruling to go to trial.
The other six defendants will be psychologist Carlos Díaz, nurses Ricardo Almirón and Gisela Dahiana; the coordinating physician at Swiss Medical Nancy Forlini, the coordinating physician Mariano Perroni and the clinical physician Pedro Di Spagna.
The court reasoned that “the attached evidentiary table allows reaching, at this point, the degree of knowledge required to consider prima facie consolidated the accusation, in the terms foisted and required by the public prosecution, regarding the contribution that each of those here defendants would have had with respect to the health of the alleged victim, taking into account the role and functions that they would had shown in the aforementioned period, (and that) would have been determinant in the fatal outcome here.”
In November 2020, Maradona passed away aged 60. He was recovering from brain surgery for a blood clot after a decades-long lifestyle that involved cocaine and alcohol addictions. He was found dead in bed, having died of cardiac arrest. Prosecutors accused Maradona’s doctors and medical personnel of being involved in “reckless” and “deficient” home treatment of a patient.
Maradona is widely considered one of the greatest players of all time alongside Pelé and Lionel Messi. He featured for FC Barcelona and Napoli at the club level and won the World Cup with Argentina in 1986.
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