BUENOS AIRES: In a trial of seven health professionals accused of the negligent homicide of Argentine footballing legend Diego Maradona, experts involved in his autopsy testified on Tuesday that the football legend had an abnormally large heart. The experts who conducted Maradona’s autopsy also testified that he was suffering from cirrhosis but stated that his body showed no traces of alcohol or drugs at the time of his death. Maradona, who orchestrated Argentina’s World Cup triumph in 1986, passed away on November 25, 2020 at the age of 60.
Forensic expert Alejandro Ezequiel Vega told the court that Maradona’s heart was “enlarged” and weighed around 503 grams, when the average weight is between 250 and 300 grams. Vega explained that the examination of Maradona’s heart revealed that the legend suffered from “long-standing ischemia,” with a “lack of blood flow and oxygen.”
Maradona breathed his last while on house hospitalization in a residence in Buenos Aires, a few days after undergoing surgery for a hematoma that formed between his skull and brain.
The autopsy concluded that Maradona died of acute pulmonary edema (fluid building up in lungs), caused by congestive heart failure.
The prosecution maintained that the seven professionals charged in the case — a neurosurgeon, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, doctors, and nurses — who were caring for Maradona, failed to provide adequate care, which may have led to his demise.
Additionally, forensic expert Ezequiel Ventosi stated that the blood and urine samples taken from Maradona showed no traces of alcohol or drugs.
Silvana De Piero, from the same police task force, stated that the liver analysis identified “conditions compatible with cirrhosis,” and that Maradona’s kidneys “had altered function and lacked a good blood supply to carry oxygen.”
Agencies