Diego Maradona’s daughter testifies in negligence trial saying family was deceived by doctors

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - One of Diego Maradona’s daughters testified Tuesday in the trial of seven medical professionals accused of negligence in the soccer great’s death, describing the room where her father underwent home hospitalization in 2020 as "disgusting" and "smelling of urine."

Dalma Maradona said she and her siblings were deceived by the doctors treating their father.

"They promised us a home hospitalization that never happened," said Dalma, the eldest of the former Argentina captain's five children and the first of them to testify in court.

"They made us believe in something that never happened. They deceived us in the cruelest way to support that," she added.

Maradona, who led Argentina to the World Cup title in 1986, died on Nov. 25, 2020 while undergoing home hospitalization on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, days after undergoing surgery for a hematoma that formed between his skull and brain. He was 60.

Dalma said the facility was not fit for medical treatment.

"It smelled like urine, the bed was disgusting," she said. “There was a portable toilet. There was this panel on the windows to keep out the light. There was nothing. It was horrible. The kitchen was disgusting."

Seven healthcare professionals, including a neurosurgeon and a psychiatrist, are on trial for failing to provide adequate care and could face a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.

Dalma recalled that after the hematoma surgery, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, and psychologist Carlos Díaz - three of the defendants whom she identified as "my father's doctors" - suggested home hospitalization since Maradona did not want to remain hospitalized.

"There were three options (voluntary hospitalization, forced hospitalization, and home hospitalization), but they made us understand that home hospitalization was the only option," Dalma said. "They promised us 24-hour nurses to monitor his blood pressure and to give him medication."

Last week, Diego Maradona's ex-wife and a doctor also questioned the decision to take him to a private home following the surgery instead of admitting him to a rehabilitation center.

The deficiencies in Maradona's home care are one of the prosecution's key pieces of evidence against the defendants.

Dalma Maradona said the last time she saw her father alive was at the hospital as she had not been allowed access to the house where he was rehabilitating until after he was dead.

"I went into the room (after he died), he was very swollen. He was covered with a sheet, but you could see he was swollen," she said. "I threw myself on him because I thought he was going to wake up. His face was very swollen, his hands, his face. His stomach, his body. Everything."

She added: "I miss him every day of my life, and what pains me the most is knowing that if they (the doctors) had done their job, this could have been avoided," Dalma concluded. "It's still very painful to remember the abuse he suffered, and I didn't know. If I had known this was going to be the outcome, I would have handled it differently. But I never thought about it."