By Florencia Pessarini
Buenos Aires, Oct 6 (EFE).- Closing arguments in the trial against the medical team over the death of Diego Armando Maradona will begin on Thursday.
After undergoing head surgery for a subdural hematoma, Maradona was transferred to a private residence on Nov. 11, 2020, where he died on Nov. 25 under medical home care that, according to testimony presented at the trial, was deficient, inadequate, and dysfunctional.
In recent months, the court has heard the following arguments related to the doctor’s care:
Leopoldo Luque
His main defense was to deny his role as the “Number 10’s” personal physician, but over 50 witnesses identified him as the doctor in charge.
Luque convinced the daughters to treat their father at home, at the request of an employee at the law firm of Matías Morla, the soccer player’s attorney and representative.
Messages submitted as evidence suggest financial motives behind the decision to treat him at home, but Maradona also did not want to be in a clinic.
Regarding the accusation that he neglected his patient’s cardiac health, Luque has both supporting and opposing arguments.
Shortly before his death, Maradona underwent tests with normal results, and when he underwent surgery for a subdural hematoma, the anesthesiologists at the Olivos Clinic considered him to be at low cardiac risk.
The star’s serious medical history, which was public knowledge, was addressed at the trial by several witnesses who asserted that Maradona’s heart could be stabilized but not cured.
It was also shown that the doctor prevented a more in-depth heart examination and that the star had stopped taking medication for high blood pressure.
Luque is accused of ignoring warnings about the patient’s edema, and he is incriminated by an audio recording in which he responds to the massage therapist: “The swelling will go down.”
However, Luque visited the patient after the warnings and, as he testified at trial, found nothing abnormal.
In messages submitted as evidence, the doctor said he was exhausted and frustrated, but he never communicated his resignation.
Agustina Cosachov
The psychiatrist implemented a psychopharmacological treatment for Maradona’s addiction issues and related conditions, according to several expert witnesses.
The soccer star died with no drugs or alcohol in his system, meaning Cosachov achieved one of her objectives.
Along with Luque, she was listed as “attending physician,” and both signed Maradona’s discharge form from the clinic without reading it and accepted fewer services than she had requested from Swiss Medical.
Cosachov showed concern for the patient’s health by attempting to communicate with the nurses at the residence, even though Swiss Medical prohibited it.
She explained that a clinic seemed like the best option, but Maradona did not meet the legal requirements for involuntary psychiatric admission, as corroborated by witnesses.
Nancy Forlini
The doctor coordinating home care for Swiss Medical served as liaison between Maradona’s doctors and the company, and some identify her as in charge of the home treatment.
Forlini prohibited the nursing team from contacting the doctors.
“It would be a shame if you left the team if you contact them again,” she told the head nurse.
Furthermore, she was aware that Maradona had tachycardia the night before his death through a WhatsApp group, in which neither Luque nor Cosachov were included at her instruction, and she did nothing about it.
Pedro Di Spagna
The physician visited Maradona on Nov. 12 as a “consultant” for Swiss Medical and ordered tests that were never performed.
When he tried to examine him a second time, on Nov. 18, Maradona refused.
Cosachov told Forlini to wait until Saturday, but Forlini told Di Spagna to come “starting Tuesday.”
The visit was scheduled for Nov. 25, the day Maradona died.
He was always willing to treat Maradona, but both the star and his doctors stood in the way.
Like Forlini, he knew through the WhatsApp group that Maradona had tachycardia.
Nursing coordinator Mariano Perroni, nurse Ricardo Almirón, and psychologist Carlos Díaz are also accused, but no substantial evidence has been presented against them.
Nurse Dahiana Gisela Madrid will stand trial in a separate proceeding, with no date yet. EFE
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