Prosecutors question Diego Maradona's doctor in manslaughter probe

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentine prosecutors will on Monday question Diego Maradona's personal physician, implicated with six other medical professionals in having neglected the ailing football icon in his final days.

The appearance of Leopoldo Luque, 39, will close a two-week process of interrogating the seven, who appeared one-by-one to state their case.

A judge will next decide whether to order a trial, in a process that could take years. The suspects risk between eight and 25 years in jail if found guilty.

The seven were placed under investigation for manslaughter after a board of experts looking into Maradona's death found he had received inadequate care and was abandoned to his fate for a "prolonged, agonizing period."

The sporting legend died of a heart attack last November at the age of 60, weeks after undergoing brain surgery for a blood clot.

An investigation was opened following a complaint filed by two of Maradona's five children against neurosurgeon Luque, whom they blame for their father's deterioration after the operation.  

A panel of 20 medical experts convened by Argentina's public prosecutor said last month that Maradona's treatment was rife with "deficiencies and irregularities" and the medical team had left his survival "to fate."

The panel concluded he "would have had a better chance of survival" with adequate treatment in an appropriate medical facility.

Instead, he died alone in his bed in a rented house in an exclusive Buenos Aires neighborhood where he was receiving home care.  

'I did my best'

Luque has repeatedly denied guilt, and recently said "I'm proud of what I did," to assist the patient, who he described as his friend.

"I did my best. I offered Diego everything I could: some things he accepted, others not," he said.

The doctor is seeking a dismissal of the case, and says Maradona had been depressed in his final days.

"I know that the (coronavirus) quarantine hit him very hard," Luque has said.  

He could on Monday decline to respond to questions and submit a written statement instead.

Last week, a lawyer for co-accused nurse Dahiana Madrid, 36, told prosecutors the doctors in charge had "killed Diego."

"In the end, there were many warning signs that Maradona was going to die, give or take a day. And none of the doctors did anything to prevent it," attorney Rodolfo Baque said at the time.

The other five people under suspicion are nurse Ricardo Almiron, 37; nursing coordinator Mariano Perroni, 40; medical coordinator Nancy Forlini, 52; psychologist Carlos Diaz, 29; and psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, 36.

All have denied responsibility for Maradona's death.

Cosachov, who appeared before prosecutors on Friday, denied that the psychiatric medicine she had prescribed could have contributed to Maradona's heart condition.

Maradona had battled cocaine and alcohol addictions for years.

The former Boca Juniors, Barcelona and Napoli star was suffering from liver, kidney and cardiovascular disorders when he died.

Maradona is an idol to millions of Argentines after he inspired the South American country to only their second World Cup triumph in 1986.

His death shocked fans around the world, and tens of thousands queued to file past his coffin, draped in the Argentine flag, at the presidential palace in Buenos Aires amid three days of national mourning.