The trial about Maradona's death begins: Seven doctors and nurses are charged with homicide

Four and a half years after his death, the trial for the medical team who treated Diego Armando Maradona begins on Tuesday. Seven members of the medical team were charged with homicide and negligence that supposedly worsened Maradona's condition after a prior surgery that led to his death. Among the suspects, there are a brain surgeon, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a general practitioner, and nurses.

Maradona died on November 25, 2020, after a heart attack, causing a dramatic commotion in Argentina and the world of football. Months later, the medical professionals that were taking care of Maradona were charged and questioned regarding the treatment of Maradona. After all of Maradona's sons filed complaints, it took more than three years for a Court in San Isidro, in Buenos Aires, to conclude that eight people should face trial, and many months to set a start date for the trial, which starts on March 11, 2025.

Three weeks before his death, Maradona went through brain surgery due to a subdural hematoma, and was released after the surgery was successful. However, prosecutors say that the medical team that took care of him post-surgery was "reckless and deficient", and left Maradona in a "prolonged, agonising period". A board of 20 medical experts found that Maradona could have had greater chances of survival if he had been given a better care, and should have been at a hospital, not at home, where Maradona reportedly spent his final days shut away from the world and depressed.

Some group chats between the medical teams were used as evidence: one of them said that "as a suggestion, let's cover the legal part. God willing, he spends a good weekend as well as possible. But if there is some unfavourable event, let's cover that you he not have the test, or request additional tests for reasons beyond our control". (via Olé).

The trial will go on for months, with over 120 testimonies to be heard. If found guilty, the medics could face between eight and 25 years in prison. Determining on whether the circumstances that led to Maradona's death were avoidable, or indeed the medics had a part on it, will be key in a very complicated trial. An eighth person charged for Maradona's death, a nurse, will have a separate trial un July.