SAN ISIDRO.- Diego Maradona He showed “alarm signs” that were not attended to during the home confinement in which he died, a witness said on Tuesday in the trial seeking responsibility for the death in 2020 of the Argentine soccer idol.
“There were warning signs: edema of the lower limbs, edema in the fingers, snoring, shortness of breath, signs of hypertension or tachycardia,” listed the medical examiner. Carlos Cassinelli.
The specialist was summoned as a witness in the process taking place in San Isidronorth of Buenos Airesas a member of an interdisciplinary medical board formed in 2021 at the request of the prosecutor’s office.
With more than 20 specialists, the board analyzed medical histories, medical studies, testimonial statements and messages incorporated into the file to reconstruct Maradona’s state of health.
Cassinelli said that “no one went to see what that swelling was about” that Maradona had, although it represented “a life risk.”
“The final outcome was death. We consider these alarm patterns were not considered by the doctors because the attitude was not changed,” Cassinelli said emphatically.
“At least they should have made an in-person visit to evaluate these symptoms, consult with a cardiologist, or directly admit him to a sanatorium to establish a correct diagnosis,” he added, and assured that a home confinement should not have been carried out.
Maradona died at the age of 60 on November 25, 2020 from cardiorespiratory arrest and pulmonary edema, while recovering from neurosurgery in a house in Tigeron the northern outskirts of Buenos Aires.
The specialist maintained that Maradona had emerged “compensated” from the intervention for a subdural hematoma to which he was subjected on the previous November 3, but which worsened during the following days.
“He could have been alerted”
“The deterioration was progressive. From the time he was discharged until his death. At least 10 days before. He could have been warned,” Cassinelli said.
The expert also stated that Maradona went through an agonizing period of about 12 hours before his death, according to the conclusions of the medical board.
“There was no doctor who was in charge of the patient’s entire evolution,” he said, and questioned the nursing coordination during home confinement.
Seven health professionals, including doctors, nurses and a psychologist, are tried for homicide with possible intent, a figure that implies that they should have known that their actions or omissions could cause the death of the “Ten.”
They all maintain their innocence.
An eighth defendant, a nurse, will be tried in a separate trial.
