At trial, doctor suggests Maradona's death was avoidable

A doctor close to Diego Maradona testified Thursday that a simple diuretic could have helped the football legend's health improve "within 48 hours," at the trial over his death.

"In about 48 hours, his condition would have clearly improved," Dr. Mario Schiter, who treated Maradona in the early 2000s and attended his autopsy in 2020, said when asked what could have prevented the demise of the footballer in his final days.

"Every day I see patients like this in intensive care, who come in with congestive heart failure. We give them diuretics to reduce their volume and, after 12 hours, they're already back home," the intensive care specialist added.

Seven healthcare professionals are on trial in San Isidro for potential negligence in Maradona's death, and face up to 25 years in prison if convicted. The trial is expected to run through July.

Schiter's testimony follows several experts who have reported Maradona -- who led Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986 -- had excess fluid in several organs when he died.

"He had water everywhere," Carlos Casinelli said last Thursday, as another doctor who participated in the autopsy. He said these liters of fluid could not have accumulated "in less than a week or ten days," suggesting his medical team should have noticed the swelling.

In 2020, Schiter had advised against home hospitalization after Maradona underwent surgery, but that year the champion footballer opted to convalesce in a rented house north of Buenos Aires, where he died of pulmonary edema and cardiorespiratory arrest at the age of 60.

AFP

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