BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — One of Diego Maradona’s daughters testified Tuesday that her father’s primary care physician couldn’t explain to her what type of treatment the soccer great was receiving and blamed the doctor for recommending that her father be moved to home care before his death in 2020.
Leopoldo Luque, a neurosurgeon who was Maradona’s primary care doctor, is one of seven medical professionals on trial accused of negligence in Maradona’s death.
Maradona had surgery for a hematoma that formed between his skull and brain and stayed in intensive care at Los Olivos clinic between Nov. 4-11, 2020. He then was sent to recover at a private home where he died two weeks later at the age of 60.
Gianinna Maradona told the court that her father’s health was badly deteriorating a month before his death and that she made this observation to Luque on several occasions.
The deficiencies in Maradona’s home care are one of the prosecution’s key pieces of evidence. A cardiologist testified that he was against moving Maradona from the Olivos Clinic.
Three judges will decide whether those charged are guilty of manslaughter. The maximum prison sentence is 25 years.
“I told Luque that my dad seemed very lost, that he wasn’t happy, and that he couldn’t walk. He told me there were ups and downs in his days,” said the daughter of “El Diez.”
Recalling Maradona’s 60th birthday on Oct. 30, Giannina testified that when she visited him at home, “he looked at us but didn’t understand. I asked him if he felt OK, and he said no, that he felt bad.”
The witness stated that every time she asked the doctor to explain why her father “was getting worse and worse … he couldn’t tell me with certainty what treatment he was undergoing.”
She recounted that Luque, along with psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov and psychologist Carlos Díaz, two other defendants, proposed home confinement for Maradona, and she ended up trusting the decision even though she didn’t initially agree.
“I chose to believe that they, who were monitoring my father’s health, were giving us the best proposal. Looking back I feel like it was all a play to keep my father in a dark, ugly, and lonely place,” said Maradona’s daughter.
Clinic medical director Pablo Dimitroff testified that after the surgery Maradona had “a complex psychomotor excitation episode” that resembled alcohol withdrawal.
Dimitroff also advised against home confinement, but Luque ultimately informed him of the decision to move Maradona out of the clinic.
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