On Tuesday, April 18, an Argentine court of appeal confirmed that eight medical personnel who are accused of being accountable for the murder of football legend Diego Maradona will go on trial.
A clinical doctor, a psychologist, a medical coordinator, a nursing coordinator, and nurses are among those charged.
Maradona passed away in November 2020 at the age of 60 after battling cocaine and alcohol addictions for decades and recovering from brain surgery for a blood clot.
He was found dead in bed two weeks after undergoing surgery, in a rented house in an exclusive Buenos Aires neighborhood where he was brought after being discharged from hospital.
He was found to have died of a heart attack.
Neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov and six others had appealed a 2022 decision to put them on trial for homicide with potential aggravating circumstances.
The doctors were charged with “reckless” and “deficient” home care for a patient.
The eight defendants had appealed to the court in San Isidro, against the severity of the charges, arguing that they should be accused of involuntary homicide.
The initial accusation of homicide with “dolus eventualis” holds a person responsible for negligence while knowing that such conduct could lead to death.
In 2021, a group of 20 medical professionals assembled by Argentina’s state prosecutor concluded that Maradona “would have had a better chance of survival” with competent care in the right hospital.
No date have been set for trial yet.
