Amid Trial Over Diego Maradona’s Death, Legendary Footballer Labelled ‘Very Difficult Patient’ By Surgeon

Diego Maradona was a “very difficult patient” who had to be cumped in treatment, a surgeon said on Thursday at the trial of seven health professionals accused of criminal negligence for his death. The legend of Argentinian football died on November 25, 2020 at 60, while he recovered at the house of a brain surgery for a blood clot. His medical team of seven people is tried for what the prosecutors called the “horror theater” of his care in the last days of his life, in a private house in the suburbs of Buenos Aires in Tiger. Maradona died of heart failure and acute pulmonary edema – a condition where the liquid accumulates in the lungs – two weeks after passing under the knife.

One of the questions at the heart of the trial is whether the decision to enable him to be attended in a private home instead of a medical establishment has endangered his life.

Neurosurgeon Rodolfo Benventti supervised Maradona surgery.

He told court that he had struggled to convince Maradona to have a scanner in advance.

“It was a very difficult patient,” recalls Benventi, describing him as “provocative”.

He said Maradona wanted to leave the clinic as soon as possible after surgery and “would not accept any hospitalization other than home care”.

He said he thought that the star’s condition needed a daily evaluation by a doctor.

But the evidence presented in court so far have shown that his team of caregivers had only planned the visits to weekly doctor, one of which had not taken place because of Maradona’s reluctance to be seen.

Maradona was found dead in bed by a day nurse.

The trial has been concentrated so far on the conditions for home care, described by prosecutors as roughly negligent.

Defenders risk prison terms between eight and 25 years of age if they were guilty of “homicide with possible intention” – pursuing a line of conduct despite the fact that this could lead to death.

The trial in the suburbs of Buenos Aires of San Isidro, which began on March 11, is expected to continue until July.

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