Maradona death trial: star’s daughter had to be assisted after seeing autopsy images

Argentina football superstar Diego Maradona’s daughter Gianinna became unwell and had to be assisted by a doctor after images of her father’s autopsy were shown in the latest hearing in the trial over the former footballer’s death. Tensions ran high during Thursday’s hearing, with several arguments between the defense lawyers and the judges.  The session had to be halted after the defense of Maradona’s main medical advisor, Leopoldo Luque — one of the main accused of negligence over the star’s death — played a clip from the autopsy, which forced Gianinna to exit the room. The hearings started with the testimony of Mario Schiter, the doctor who treated Maradona as he recovered from his drug addiction and a heart attack in Cuba in 2000. He later acted as an overseer during his autopsy. Schiter recalled that after Maradona chose Cuba for his rehabilitation treatment, the charter flight to Havana was required to “set up an ICU unit on board,” including reserving the entire first-class cabin and transporting emergency medical equipment. The arrangement stood in stark contrast to the home care conditions in which Maradona died on November 25, which were described during the trial as inadequate and poorly prepared. Maradona ‘should’ve never stopped taking medication’ Schiter said he joined Maradona in Cuba for a “prudent time,” but after that — with the exception of a short hospitalization in 2004 — he didn’t see him again until he was summoned in 2020. In November of that year, doctors discovered Maradona had a hematoma in his head for which he underwent surgery in Clinica Olivos, a medical center in the northern Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area. He was later moved to the gated community for home care, where he passed. “The family called me to the [medical center] to hear a second opinion on what to do with him,” he said. “They wanted to know how we controlled his psychomotor agitation.” Schiter said Maradona’s medical team wanted to use a new drug, which requires informed consent, as it significantly lowers the heart rate. According to him, the use of this medication was agreed upon in a meeting between the star’s family and his chief medical advisor, Luque. He added that he had suggested taking Maradona to a rehabilitation center as a middle-ground option between home care and a hospital, but the idea was rejected. Schiter said that during the autopsy, he saw signs of chronic structural heart disease based on the lesions it presented: fibrosis, microinfarcts, and global asymmetric chamber dilation. “Latent congestive heart failure means it can deteriorate at any moment,” he said. “There is no reason not to treat it for life. These patients should never, under any circumstances, stop taking medication that promotes cardiac regeneration and helps control high blood pressure, which can trigger latent heart disease.” Maradona died from an acute pulmonary edema in 2020, a problem related to heart failure. The trial centers around the circumstances of his death and the attention he received from his doctors and nurses.  Eight people stand accused of failing to administer proper medical care to Maradona, chiefly Luque, as well as his psychiatrist, Agustina Cosachov, and his psychologist, Carlos Díaz.