BEVERLY HILLS, May 02, (THEWILL) – The last has certainly not been heard about the circumstances surrounding the demise of Argentine football legend Diego Armando Maradona as a report investigating the state of medical care the icon received in the days leading to his passing have found disturbing facts that could have contributed to the death of the 60-year-old.
The report comes from a medical board appointed to investigate the death and it concluded, based on their findings, that the medical team of the football star acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless manner”.
This revelation was contained in a copy of the report shared with Reuters.
THEWILL recalls that the news of the passing of Maradona, which broke in November, was felt across the world but more so in his native country, with throngs of fans, to whom he was larger than life itself, despairingly distraught.
The South American country was thrown into mourning with angry demands for an investigation into claims that there was some foul play involved in Maradona’s death, though the player had battled alcohol and drug addiction for many years and had undergone brain surgery in November before his death that month.
THEWILL had reported that on Sunday, November 29, the police in Argentina raided the home and offices of Leopoldo Luque, Maradona’s personal doctor, as part of fresh investigations into the death of the soccer legend. This, along other actions taken to probe those involved in his care, constituted the earliest stages of their investigations.
The Argentine Justice Ministry appointed a medical board in March and tasked it with the responsibility of analysing all allegations concerning the inadequate and inappropriate handling of the care of the football legend, which may have played a role in his unfortunate death.
In the April 30 report, which was shared with Reuters by someone close to the investigation, the medical board noted with precise clarity: “The action of the health team in charge of treating DAM (Diego Armando Maradona) was inadequate, deficient and reckless.”
It was unflinching in its conclusion and unambiguous about where the blame squarely rests with the claim that Maradona had become seriously unwell and was dying for about 12 agonising hours before midday on Wednesday, November 25, when he finally gave up the ghost.
The board arrived at their conclusion by saying: “He presented unequivocal signs of a prolonged agonising period, so we conclude that the patient was not properly monitored from 12:30 a.m. on 11/25/2020.”
This has the potential of generating a lot of bad blood among the severely passionate Maradona faithfuls across Argentina and definitely spell career-ending trouble for those caregivers involved and especially for Luque, Maradona’s personal doctor as at the time of the icon’s death.
However, Maradona’s family will feel vindicated because it was Maradona’s daughters and other family members who raised suspicions of medical care failure believing that the football legend was not receiving proper care after being discharged from the hospital two weeks before his death.
About the Author
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.
