Buenos Aires (Argentina), April 9 (LaPresse/AP) – A doctor testified Tuesday in the trial of seven healthcare professionals accused of negligence in the death of football legend Diego Maradona, stating that Maradona should have been admitted to a rehabilitation center instead of being sent home after undergoing surgery in 2020.
Maradona died on November 25, 2020, while receiving in-home hospital care at his residence on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. He was 60 years old.
"He should have gone to a rehabilitation clinic… a safer place for him," said Mario Alejandro Schiter, a physician who treated Maradona for two decades.
"Knowing the patient, I wouldn’t have recommended home hospitalization; he wasn’t easy to manage, based on my direct experience caring for him during the worst time of his life," added Schiter, who had treated Maradona for drug addiction.
According to prosecutors, the seven professionals — including a neurosurgeon, psychiatrist, psychologist, doctors, and nurses — failed to provide proper care, which may have led to Maradona’s death.
Schiter stated that he was a consultant and did not have decision-making authority, explaining that the clinic's directors ultimately told him they had opted for home hospitalization.
Some witnesses at the trial also testified that the house where Maradona was taken lacked the necessary medical equipment.
Schiter, who also attended Maradona's autopsy, said: "All evidence suggests that modifiable care was not provided, which led to heart failure."
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