DistantNews
Support us
🇫🇷 France /Health & Science

Maradona trial: Experts say he was not in a normal state and should never have received home care

From Le Figaro · () French

Translated from French and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Named sources In the courts
  • Two experts told the trial over Diego Maradona’s death that he was experiencing alcohol-withdrawal confusion and should not have been discharged to home care.
  • They said his symptoms included agitation, impulsiveness, irritability and attempts to escape, requiring institutional rehabilitation and closer cognitive monitoring.
  • Maradona died at a rented home in Tigre on Nov. 25, 2020, after a cardiorespiratory crisis and pulmonary edema; the trial is examining the care provided by his medical team.

Diego Maradona was “not in his normal state” and should have been treated in a rehabilitation facility, two experts told the 38th day of the trial examining the football star’s death.

Psychiatrist Jose Luis Covelli said Maradona was suffering from a confusional syndrome linked to alcohol withdrawal after undergoing neurosurgery. Although the operation itself had no complications, Covelli said Maradona was not fit to leave hospital and needed institutional care.

Psychomotor agitation, impulsiveness, irritability, attempts to escape

— Jose Luis CovelliThe psychiatrist listed Maradona’s symptoms after neurosurgery while he was experiencing alcohol withdrawal.

“Psychomotor agitation, impulsiveness, irritability, attempts to escape,” Covelli listed as symptoms following the operation. He said home hospitalization could not provide the cognitive monitoring required for a patient in that state.

Internal medicine specialist Ramiro Larrea agreed that Maradona was difficult to manage during the withdrawal episode. “He was not in his normal state, was going through a withdrawal episode, which made him difficult to manage; he should have been admitted to a rehabilitation facility,” Larrea said.

He was not in his normal state, was going through a withdrawal episode, which made him difficult to manage; he should have been admitted to a rehabilitation facility.

— Ramiro LarreaThe internal medicine specialist said Maradona needed institutional rehabilitation rather than home care.

Larrea also questioned whether the arrangement at a rented house in Tigre, north of Buenos Aires, qualified as hospitalization at all. “Home hospitalization was set up, but it was not really hospitalization. It was more like home monitoring,” he said.

Maradona was found dead there on Nov. 25, 2020, after a cardiorespiratory crisis combined with pulmonary edema. Expert testimony has described an agony lasting several hours. The trial has examined the house’s medical equipment and the care and examinations Maradona may have required given his kidney and heart history. Both witnesses belong to a multidisciplinary medical commission of about 20 specialists established by the justice system in 2021.

Home hospitalization was set up, but it was not really hospitalization. It was more like home monitoring.

— Ramiro LarreaLarrea described the care arrangement at the house where Maradona recovered before his death.
About this summary

Originally published by Le Figaro in French. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog