A month before they were to go on trial for murder, a forensic report into the death of Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona raised uncertainty in a criminal negligence case against eight doctors.
A forensic expert conducted the study at the request of one of the main defendants, Maradona neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, in an attempt to challenge the 2021 medical examination, which held Luque and other doctors responsible for what he described as the “avoidable death of the football star.”
Coroner Pablo Ferrari’s report, released on Monday, concluded that Maradona’s rapid and irregular heartbeat was “either normal or caused by an external factor, possibly due to a drug such as cocaine which Maradona was known to take in the past.”
Ferrari explained that he could not prepare a toxicology report based on Maradona’s “insufficient” urine sample, as these results contradicted the results of a 20-member medical committee appointed to investigate Maradona’s death.
While Ferrari’s report cast doubt on the seriousness of this, considering that an irregular heartbeat cannot cause pain for more than “a few minutes or a few hours at most.”
A radical shift in the issue
For his part, Vadim Mishanchuk, the defense lawyer representing Maradona’s psychiatrist, Agustina Kosachov, told local media, “This represents a radical shift in the case, and moves the death from being a heart attack that lasts for several days to a situation that lasts for minutes.”
While the Public Prosecutor’s Office criticized the expert’s report, saying it had compiled it hastily in 72 hours, it accused Ferrari of neglecting four years of evidence in favor of “a simple slice of evidence presented by the defence.”
Prosecutors said, “There has been no development in the case.”
It is noteworthy that Maradona, who led Argentina to win the 1986 World Cup, died of a heart attack in 2020 while recovering from brain surgery.
Shock in Argentina
His death at the age of 60 stunned a generation of football fans, and all of Argentina went into mourning.
But within days, the country became consumed with questions about his puzzling final hours, and a wave of suspicion rose when police raided the homes and offices of his doctors, and Maradona’s family called on the judiciary to intervene.
Ultimately, prosecutors charged the eight doctors with murder, a serious charge that leaves open the possibility of premeditation, leading to possible prison sentences ranging from 8 to 25 years.
The 2021 report accused Maradona’s medical team of acting in an “inappropriate and inadequate manner”, leaving the footballer in pain and without assistance for more than 12 hours before his death.
