Shocking photographs and video footage of Diego Maradona lying dead in bed, his stomach grotesquely swollen, were shown to a court on Thursday as the negligence trial of his medical team entered a deeply distressing phase.
Maradona, widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers to have ever lived, died in November 2020 at the age of 60 while recovering at home from surgery to treat a brain clot. He succumbed to heart failure and acute pulmonary oedema — a condition in which fluid accumulates in the lungs — just two weeks after the procedure.
The court heard testimony from emergency room doctor Juan Carlos Pinto, who arrived by ambulance at Maradona’s home following his death. He described in clinical but affecting detail the condition in which he found the Argentine icon. “He had a lot of oedema, his face was very swollen, there was oedema on his limbs, and a globular abdomen, like a balloon,” Pinto told the court.
A 17-minute video filmed by forensic police was then shown to those present. It depicted Maradona on his deathbed, dressed in a pair of football shorts and a black T-shirt pulled up to expose a severely distended stomach. Pinto explained that the swelling was caused by a large accumulation of both fat and ascites — an abnormal buildup of fluid in the abdominal cavity commonly associated with cirrhosis of the liver.
Among those present in court was Maradona’s daughter Gianinna, who wept as Pinto delivered his testimony and buried her head in her hands as the footage was played.
Pinto and a police officer both testified about the alarming absence of medical equipment at the rented property where Maradona had been recuperating. “There was no defibrillator, no oxygen, nothing. In the room, there was nothing to suggest that the patient was in hospital at home,” Pinto said.
Seven medical workers — among them a neurosurgeon, a psychiatrist, and a nurse — face prison sentences of between eight and 25 years if found guilty of homicide with possible intent, a charge that covers pursuing a course of action despite knowing it could result in death. The accused deny all responsibility, maintaining that Maradona, who battled cocaine and alcohol addiction throughout much of his life, died of natural causes.
This is the second trial to be held over Maradona’s death. The first was annulled last year after it emerged that one of the presiding judges had participated in a clandestine documentary about the case. A fresh panel of judges began proceedings last week, and the trial is expected to last at least three months.
