Maradona requested alcohol and ‘tore out his own IVs’ in days after surgery

By: The Associated Press Posted: 2:19 PM CDT Tuesday, May. 6, 2025

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The director of the clinic where Diego Maradona had surgery two weeks before his death in 2020 testified Tuesday that the Argentine soccer star requested alcohol during the post-operative period and was difficult to deal with, which made his subsequent recovery in home care inadvisable.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/05/2025 (516 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Pablo Dimitroff, medical director of the Olivos Clinic, said that neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, one of the seven health professionals on trial requested “a place” so the former player could undergo surgery in early November 2020.

Maradona had surgery for a hematoma that formed between his skull and brain and stayed in intensive care at Olivos between Nov. 4-11. He then was sent recover to a private home where he died on Nov. 25 of 2020 at age 60.

A mural of soccer stars Diego Maradona, left, and Lionel Messi adorns a wall in La Boca neigborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

The deficiencies in Maradona’s home care are one of the prosecution’s key pieces of evidence against the defendants. A cardiologist testified that he was against moving Maradona from the Olivos Clinic.

Dimitroff said the surgery was not “an emergency,” although there were indicators “that it was necessary at some point.”

The operation was performed by a neurosurgeon at that center and it was routine, according to the medical director.

After the surgery, the former player displayed a “difficult” temperament during his stay in intensive care and “did not understand that he had to stay still,” Dimitroff said. He added that on Nov. 6, Maradona had “a complex psychomotor excitation episode” that resembled alcohol withdrawal, which was what he was demanding, the manager indicated.

“We were dealing with an aggressive patient who tore out his own IVs; he was a very difficult patient to take home,” Dimitroff stated.

Dimitroff explained that he discussed the situation with Luque and Agustina Cosachov — Maradona’s psychiatrist, who is also on trial — and with the former soccer player’s family.

According to Dimitroff, both Luque and Cosachov requested sedation for Maradona which was carried out at the clinic for approximately 24 hours.

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