A simple diuretic could have saved Diego Maradona’s life within 48 hours, a doctor testified at the ongoing negligence trial in San Isidro, Argentina on 15 May, adding fresh weight to the prosecution’s case that the football legend’s death in 2020 was entirely preventable.
Dr Mario Schiter, who treated Maradona in the early 2000s and attended his autopsy in November 2020, told the court that standard intensive care treatment for congestive heart failure would have dramatically improved the Argentine’s condition in the days before he died.
“In about 48 hours, his condition would have clearly improved,” Schiter said when asked what could have prevented Maradona’s death 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 are already back home.”
Schiter’s testimony follows a series of expert witnesses who have told the court that Maradona had dangerous levels of excess fluid in several organs when he died. Fellow autopsy participant Carlos Casinelli testified the previous Thursday that the level of fluid accumulation could not have built up in less than a week to ten days, strongly suggesting that Maradona’s medical team should have detected and treated the swelling well before it became fatal.
“He had water everywhere,” Casinelli said, in testimony that painted a damning picture of the care Maradona received in his final days.
Seven healthcare professionals are currently standing trial accused of potential negligence in connection with Maradona’s death and face up to 25 years in prison if convicted. The trial is expected to continue through July.
Maradona died on 25 November 2020 of pulmonary edema and cardiorespiratory arrest at the age of 60, at a rented house north of Buenos Aires where he had been convalescing after undergoing brain surgery. Schiter had himself advised against home hospitalisation following that procedure, but Maradona chose to recover away from a medical facility. That decision, and the care provided to him in the weeks that followed, now lies at the heart of one of the most high-profile criminal trials in Argentine sporting history.
The man at the centre of the proceedings led Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986 and remains one of the most celebrated and revered figures in the history of football. The question of whether his death could have been prevented with basic medical intervention has added a painful dimension to his legacy that shows no sign of resolution until the verdict is delivered.
