“Psychomotor excitement”, “difficult to control”, detoxification: everything about Diego Maradona pleaded in November 2020 for post-operative convalescence in a care center and not at home, which in the end was fatal to him, the trial heard on Tuesday on the circumstances of his death.
At the trial of seven health professionals for potential negligence having contributed to the death, Pablo Dimitroff, director of the clinic where Maradona was operated on on November 3 for a hematoma to the head, assured that his condition “put the caregivers in difficulty” in the post-operative days.
There were “times when it was difficult to control the patient: he tore out the venous catheter several times, and it was necessary to administer sedatives and anticonvulsants, in large doses,” testified Dr. Dimitroff.
“Faced with this scenario, and given the need for motor rehabilitation and detoxification from substance abuse habits, it seemed that the place to continue treatment should not be at home,” said the ex-clinic boss.
For this reason, Dr. Dimitroff and other specialists at the clinic, after consultations, argued that the best option was convalescence in a care facility.
In the end, Maradona’s personal doctor, Leopoldo Luque, and psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov — both among the accused — opted, with the family’s agreement, for convalescence at home.
It was there, in a residence rented for the occasion in Tigre (north of Buenos Aires), that the Argentine football icon died at the age of 60, on November 25, 2020, of a cardiorespiratory crisis coupled with pulmonary edema, alone on his bed. Afterwards, according to forensic doctors’ testimonies, several hours of agony.
Among the key questions at trial are the relevance of the option chosen for Maradona’s post-operative convalescence, and the level of care and monitoring then provided in the last weeks of life.
Last Tuesday, an intensive care doctor from the same clinic, Fernando Villarejo, also testified that the Maradona patient “required an establishment”, needed “a larger structure, with medical equipment and multidisciplinary care difficult to maintain at home”.
Previously, Jana, one of Maradona’s daughters, had accused Leopoldo Luque of having pushed at the time for home hospitalization of the star, promising attention and care “24 hours a day”, which was never kept.
The defendants, who deny any responsibility for the death, face between 8 and 25 years in prison.
The trial, with two weekly hearings, is scheduled to continue until July.
