Diego Maradona’s ex-wife and a doctor took the stand Tuesday in the trial of seven medical professionals accused of negligence in the football legend’s death, questioning why he was sent home after surgery in 2020 instead of being placed in a rehabilitation facility.
Maradona, who famously led Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986, died on Nov. 25, 2020, while under home care near Buenos Aires. He was 60.
“He should have gone to a rehabilitation clinic ... a more protected place for him,” Mario Alejandro Schiter, who treated Maradona for two decades, told the court.
“Knowing the patient, I would not have suggested home hospitalization. He was not easy to manage, given my direct knowledge of having treated him at the worst moment of his life,” added Schiter, who treated Maradona for a drug addiction.
According to the prosecution, the seven professionals charged in the negligence case – a neurosurgeon, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, doctors and nurses – failed to provide adequate care, which may have led to his death.
“They lied to all of us, to all the family. It is a shame,” said Veronica Ojeda, who was married to Maradona from 2005 to 2014.
Ojeda said doctors advised the family to move Maradona out of the hospital, and that is why they did it, although “the house was not ready for it.”
She said she was assured Maradona was going to be taken care of, but has now questioned the level of care.
“Diego was alone. Nobody was there – just the bodyguard,” added Ojeda, who said she visited Maradona three times, including seven days before his death.
Schiter said he was a consultant with no decision-making authority and that the clinic’s directors ultimately “came and told me they opted for home hospitalization.”
According to some witnesses at the trial, the home where Maradona was taken lacked the necessary medical equipment.
Schiter, who also observed the autopsy on Maradona’s body, said, “All the evidence suggests that there was a failure to provide modifiable care, which led to heart failure.”
