Death of Diego Maradona: Dr. Luque and the medical team heard by investigators
Diego Maradona during his hospitalization in a clinic in Buenos Aires, with his doctor Leopoldo Luque, eight days after having had a brain operation.
Photo taken on November 11, 2020 and distributed to the press.
Handout AFP
Text by: Théo Conscience Follow
4 min
In Argentina, the hearings as part of the investigation into the death of Diego Maradona ended on Monday, June 28.
The Argentine star was found dead of cardiac arrest on November 25 while recovering from brain surgery.
The members of his medical team were heard by the investigators to determine their responsibility in this death.
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From our correspondent in Buenos Aires,
He introduces himself as one of his "friends".
39-year-old neurosurgeon, Leopoldo Luque has been Diego Maradona's personal doctor since 2019.
He had participated in his brain surgery three weeks before
his death
.
Investigators believe that it was he who led the medical team responsible for monitoring the recovery that the Argentine star was doing at his home. Leopoldo Luque was therefore heard by the San Isidro prosecutor's office. An audition during which he denied having been the head of the healthcare team. If he admitted that he had suggested the hospitalization at home of Maradona, he assured that he was only responsible for his post-operative follow-up, and that none of the members of the medical team returned to him. account.
The doctor also requested that a new "
impartial
"
medical expertise
be carried out.
At the beginning of May, Leopoldo Luque had been pinned down personally by an expert report, which concluded that Maradona had been "
abandoned to her fate
" by his medical team whose "
inappropriate, insufficient and risky
"
treatment
had led him to "
slow agony
”.
►Also read
: Argentina: Diego Maradona was in agony, “abandoned to his fate” according to medical experts
Seven people heard
A total of seven people were heard by the San Isidro prosecutor's office: two nurses, their superior, a doctor coordinating home care, a psychologist, a psychiatrist and Leopoldo Luque. All blamed each other for Maradona's death, especially on one point in particular. The expert report published in early June underlined that the former footballer had been administered psychotropic drugs that accelerated his pulse, even though he was suffering from a heart disease.
During their hearings, the two nurses and their superior assured that they had not been informed of these heart problems.
They also declared to have noticed warning signs before the death of the “Pibe de Oro”, and to have transmitted them to the doctors, pointing in particular the responsibility of Leopoldo Luque and the psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov.
"
They killed Diego
", even launched in front of the press the lawyer of the nurse who took care of Maradona during the day, Dahiana Madrid.
No symptoms of heart failure
In their defense, Agustina Cosachov, like Leopoldo Luque, claimed that Diego Maradona had no symptoms of heart failure.
Nothing according to them had foreshadowed the deterioration of the state of health of the Argentine idol which led to his cardiac arrest.
At the end of these two weeks of hearings, the seven members of the medical team are still free, but they are prohibited from leaving Argentina.
The San Isidro prosecutor's office must now determine whether they will be sent to court for "
manslaughter with aggravating circumstances
".
They would then risk between 8 and 25 years in prison.
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