Doctors testify Maradona should not have undergone surgery before his death

By: Associated Press, The Associated Press Posted: 4:07 PM CDT Thursday, Apr. 10, 2025

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Doctors testified Thursday that Diego Maradona should not have undergone surgery two weeks before his death because it was not a serious matter.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Doctors testified Thursday that Diego Maradona should not have undergone surgery two weeks before his death because it was not a serious matter.

Read unlimited articles for free today:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/04/2025 (536 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Doctors testified Thursday that Diego Maradona should not have undergone surgery two weeks before his death because it was not a serious matter.

After checking a CT scan of Maradona’s brain presented during the hearing, neurologist Martín Cesarini said: “It was not an emergency for surgery.”

Neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque is one of seven medical professionals accused of negligence in the death of the soccer great.

Signs that read in Spanish "Justice for God," cover a wall where police stand guard outside the court where the medical team that treated the late soccer star Diego Maradona is on trial facing charges of homicide by negligence, in San Isidro, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Neurologist Guillermo Pablo Burry also said at the trial that he told Luque surgery was not necessary and Maradona’s clinical progress should just have been monitored.

Cesarini and Burry examined Maradona at a clinic in Buenos Aires, where he had been transferred early in November 2020 for a medical check-up.

Flavio Tunessi, another doctor from the same facility, said in testimony: “Luque told me that for him it was a surgical procedure and he decided to transfer him.”

It is alleged Luque did not listen to any of his colleagues and moved Maradona to another clinic, where the former Argentina captain underwent surgery for a hematoma on November 3 of that year.

Maradona, who led Argentina to the World Cup title in 1986, died on Nov. 25, 2020 while undergoing home hospitalization on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. He was 60.

According to the prosecution, the seven professionals charged in the negligence case — a neurosurgeon, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, doctors and nurses — failed to provide adequate care, which may have led to his death.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer