A medical team of eight staff will go on trial charged with “homicide by negligence” over the death of footballing great Diego Maradona, who died in November 2020 from heart failure after undergoing brain surgery days earlier.
The former football giant, who led Argentina to a second World Cup title in 1986, was 60 when he died, reports Reuters.
A court in San Isidro, a town on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, rejected defence appeals for a lesser charge and upheld a year-old indictment by prosecutors for “reckless and inefficient work” in the treatment of the former Boca Juniors and Napoli player.
The Guardian reports that a medical board’s report previously given to prosecutors concluded that Maradona was in agony for more than 12 hours, did not receive adequate treatment, and could still be alive if he had been properly hospitalised.
Neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque and psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov are accused of failing in their care for Maradona, whose medical team also included psychologist Carlos Díaz, doctors Nancy Forlini and Pedro Di Spagna, nursing co-ordinator Mariano Perroni and nurses Ricardo Almirón and Dahiana Madrid.
Three judges from an appeals court confirmed the charges brought by prosecutors of homicide by negligence against the medical team.
The process is unlikely to start until next year and the defendants could face prison sentences ranging from eight to 25 years.
Reuters article – Eight healthcare workers face trial over Maradona's death – reports (Open access)
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