Homicide Trial for Medical Staff of Soccer Legend Diego Maradona
- Cassandra Devaney
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Seven members of the medical team that treated Diego Maradona are facing homicide charges in Buenos Aires. Maradona, who died in November 2020 at the age of 60, is regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time. He captained the Argentinian national team when they won the World Cup in 1986, scoring the infamous “Hand of God” goal in the quarter-finals.
The trial, which started last month, centers on allegations that medical negligence contributed to Maradona's death. Maradona had been home recovering from brain surgery, having undergone a procedure to remove a blood clot on his brain, when he suffered a heart attack. Maradona, a national icon, had long struggled with drug addiction, obesity, and alcoholism, but prosecutors argue that his death could have been prevented with proper medical care.
The accusations emerged after the prosecutor’s office gathered a group of medical experts to determine if there was evidence that Maradona’s medical team committed a crime. The prosecutor’s group of medical experts released a report in 2021 accusing Maradona’s medical team of acting in an “inappropriate, deficient, and reckless manner,” ultimately concluding that the team’s failure to properly monitor Maradona after he was released from the hospital contributed to his death.
The accused include Maradona’s brain surgeon, psychiatrist, addiction specialist, and several nurses. Among the charges is "culpable homicide," a crime similar to involuntary manslaughter. The prosecution’s case includes expert reports and over 120,000 messages and audio recordings, highlighting deficiencies in Maradona’s care. The experts also pointed out that Maradona had not received necessary heart or lab tests and had symptoms of heart failure before his death.
Despite this, the majority of the medical team has denied any wrongdoing. The defendants argue that Maradona insisted on home care and that his death was unforeseeable, occurring “during sleeping hours, without offering us any time.” In response to the medical experts report, the defense also commissioned its own forensic study to support their claim that Maradona’s death “was sudden and without agony.”
However, this past week, a doctor testified at trial that the late soccer star should have been admitted to a rehab center after his release from the hospital, rather than taken home following the surgery he underwent. “He should have gone to a rehabilitation clinic ... a more protected place for him,” Mario Alejandro Schiter, who treated Maradona for two decades, told the court.
Schiter said he was a consultant and that he had no decision-making authority, and that the clinic's directors ultimately “came and told me they opted for home hospitalization.” According to some witnesses at the trial, the home where Maradona was taken lacked the necessary medical equipment. Schiter, who also observed the autopsy on Maradona's body, said “all the evidence suggests that there was a failure to provide modifiable care, which led to heart failure.”
The trial will continue through July, with a three-judge court rendering judgment on seven of the eight medical professionals accused - the eighth, a nurse, asked to be tried separately by a jury. If they are found guilty, the defendants face up to 25 years in prison.
Cassandra Devaney is a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law.
Sources: