SAN FRANCISCO, November 29, (THEWILL) – On Sunday, the Police in Argentina raided the home and offices of Leopoldo Luque, Diego Maradona’s personal doctor, as part of fresh investigations into the death of the soccer legend.
Football great Maradona, died of a heart attack at his Buenos Aires-area home on Wednesday, November 25, just weeks after undergoing surgery to relieve bleeding in his brain.
Officers numbering about 60 conducted the raids at the two locations and went away with medical records, according to local reports monitored by THEWILL.
Prosecutors are poring over details of available medical data to understand how Maradona was treated in his final days. The doctor may be investigated for negligence with the possibility of bringing manslaughter charges on the doctor. Luque is cooperating with authorities, as he explained at an emotional press conference later on Sunday.
“I know what I did. I know how I did it,” Luque said, choking back tears, whilst adding that he was not Maradona’s chief physician but a member of a team of doctors that had been treating the icon since his recent operation.
“I am absolutely sure that I did the best for Diego, the best I could.”
The rationale behind the police going for Luque lies with the family of the football magician. Maradona’s daughters and other family members have sought details of medications that were being administered post-op as they believe that he was not receiving proper care after being discharged from the hospital two weeks before his death.
This has raised suspicions that the superstar’s home-based convalescence might not have met the standard conditions of his discharge from the clinic. Some of these conditions included having a 24-hour team of nurses “specialized in substance abuse” around him, the on-call presence of doctors and a stand-by ambulance equipped with a defibrillator.
The police was also interested in knowing how often Luque went to see Maradona at his house.
The talented Argentine became a godlike figure in his home country after leading Argentina to the 1986 World Cup title. However, he battled health and addiction problems during and especially after his playing career ended in 1997. At the time of his passing, he was the head coach of Argentine Primera Division club Gimnasia and had just celebrated his 60th birthday.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
