Maradona death probe widens to include nurses, psychologist

A psychologist and two nurses – one male, one female – who helped care for footballing legend Diego Maradona before his death have been added to a widening involuntary manslaughter probe, a judicial source told local media Monday.

Maradona died of a heart attack in Tigre, outside Buenos Aires, on November 25, two weeks after undergoing brain surgery on a blood clot.

His psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov and heart surgeon Leopoldo Luque are already under investigation by the San Isidro Attorney General's Office , as they were treating Maradona before his death.

The three people newly under investigation must appear before prosecutors this week, the judicial source told local media. 

Investigators are trying to determine if any of the five people who had Maradona in their care were in any way negligent or reckless.

Maradona was suffering from liver, kidney and cardiovascular disorders, but there were no signs of alcohol or narcotics consumption, according to his autopsy. 

Luque, the surgeon, in November responded to the launch of an investigation for involuntary manslaughter by saying he did "everything he could, up to the impossible" for an "unmanageable" patient.

A first autopsy conducted the day Maradona died found he had suffered from liquid on the lungs with acute heart failure brought on by a disease of the heart muscles that makes it harder to pump blood.

Testimonies from those close to him point to Maradona suffering from depression after eight months in confinement, as a risk patient, given the coronavirus pandemic.

– TIMES/AFP