MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Trial of Maradona's medical team starting this week

About 100 witnesses are expected to be questioned throughout the proceedings

Seven healthcare professionals treating Argentine football legend Diego Armando Maradona will stand trial for manslaughter and negligence resulting in death starting this week. The proceedings are expected to last four months. If convicted, each defendant faces between eight and 25 years in jail. One nurse will be tried separately, starting in July, since she chose a trial by jury.

The seven defendants at this stage are brain surgeon Leopoldo Luciano Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, psychologist Carlos Ángel Díaz, coordinating doctor Nancy Forlini, nurse coordinator Mariano Perroni, general practitioner Pedro Pablo Di Spagna, and nurse Ricardo Omar Almirón. Nurse Dahiana Gisela Madrid will face the courts in a separate proceeding.

Maradona passed away on Nov. 25, 2020, at the age of 60, due to a heart attack while recovering from brain surgery. Since then, there has been a legal battle over the role his medical team might have played in his death.

Prosecutors claim the medical team was “reckless” and “deficient,” claiming Maradona was left in a “prolonged, agonizing period” before his death. A 2021 report by a panel of 20 medical experts concluded Maradona might have had a better chance of survival with proper care in a medical facility rather than at the home setup he was in.

Maradona’s family, particularly his children, have been vocal in pushing for accountability.

The trial originally set for mid-2024 got pushed to March 2025 in San Isidro, the Buenos Aires suburb, where courts have jurisdiction over the house Maradona had rented for his home recovery.

About 100 witnesses are expected to be questioned throughout the proceedings. There are claims of leaked audio and texts suggesting the medical team knew Maradona’s condition was dire but did not act accordingly.

The case raises bigger questions about accountability in high-profile medical care and how much responsibility falls on professionals versus a patient’s own choices and history, which in the case of Maradona includes decades of cocaine and alcohol struggles.