SAN ISIDRO.- The difference between “hospitalization” and “home care” marked this Thursday a new hearing in the trial in Argentina against seven health professionals for the death of Diego Maradonawho died in 2020 while convalescing in a rented house after head surgery.
“My criterion was always the same: a serious home confinement,” said the psychiatrist. Agustina Cosachovone of the main accused and who was caring for Maradona at the time.
Cosachov said that he never considered it appropriate for the former soccer player to return home after the operation for a subdural hematoma that he underwent on November 3, 2020.
For the doctor, who spoke for the first time in the room, the best alternative was to continue rehabilitation in a specialized center, due to the 60-year-old patient’s symptoms of depression and alcohol addiction.
However, Maradona refused, so the option arose of renting a house in Tiger -30 km north of Buenos Aires– so that he could spend his convalescence.
“For me, as a psychiatrist, it was not an option for me to return home alone. We then came up with this intermediate option, which was the home confinement device,” he declared.
“I requested a clinical doctor, a neurologist, clinical studies, an ambulance for transfers, male nurses and a specialty in problematic substance use,” he continued.
“I signed convinced that this was going to happen. Why would I think that a company like Swiss Medical “Wasn’t I going to give the best to a patient with these characteristics?” he said, referring to the private medicine company that participated in the logistics.
In turn, Mariana Flichmana former medical examiner at Swiss Medical who intervened in the discharge report, testified as a witness that the planned service was accompaniment and nursing, not a hospital structure.
“We do not know or intervene in the clinical status. We only take the clinical review that the treating team transmits to us,” he declared.
“I trusted that everyone knew what they were signing,” he added.
Reason for the trial
The trial in the San Isidro court, neighboring Tigre, examines both the relevance and conditions of the home confinement that ended with the idol’s death on November 25, 2020 due to cardiorespiratory arrest and pulmonary edema.
Swiss Medical is not charged as an entity, although those accused include Nancy Forlinia doctor who worked for the company and who acted as medical coordinator of the convalescence.
The seven defendants face charges of homicide with possible intent, which implies having been aware of the risk of death, and sentences of up to 25 years in prison.
The trial, with two weekly hearings, is expected to continue at least until July.
