Maradona death trial: daughter says psychologist ordered he be left alone

Dalma, daughter of Argentine football superstar Diego Maradona, said during the latest hearing in the trial over his death that her father’s psychologist told her that he “was best left alone” during his home hospitalization in the weeks before he passed. The eldest of Maradona’s daughters with his longtime wife Claudia Villafañe was the key witness in Tuesday’s hearing. “My sister Gianinna and I had been saying for more than a year that my dad didn’t seem like himself,” Dalma testified. “He had always been very sharp, and we felt he no longer was. During video calls, he would sometimes stammer.” She said she and her sister often felt their father struggled to understand what people were telling him, but that members of his entourage dismissed their concerns as exaggerated. “That changed on his birthday in 2020, when everyone saw how bad things were,” she added. “Suddenly, we weren’t the crazy ones anymore.” Dalma also recalled two meetings with Maradona’s medical team to discuss his treatment after surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain. “(Head doctor Leopoldo) Luque suggested that home hospitalization was the best option because my dad wouldn’t want to go to a clinic and it would be a hassle,” she said. “He presented it as the only viable alternative.” ‘Nobody in charge’ She said alarm bells rang when members of the medical team called the family to ask how to proceed during an episode of food poisoning. “Nobody was taking charge,” she testified. “They were asking us, though we’re not doctors, to make a medical decision.” During the hearing, prosecutor Patricio Ferrari played an audio recording in which Luque, Maradona’s personal physician, said the football legend’s daughters wanted to remove him from his care, described them as self-centered, and argued they would be doing him “a favor” because the rehabilitation plan was doomed to fail. Dalma also testified that she stopped visiting her father because psychologist Carlos Díaz advised the family to leave him alone. “I didn’t go to see my dad because Díaz told us it was better not to overwhelm him because of his treatment,” she said. “He said my father was going through withdrawal and that his psychological plan was to leave him alone.” She added that when family members asked whether Maradona might feel abandoned if they stopped visiting and whether that could be dangerous, Díaz told them to “follow his orders.” ‘Maradona would’ve been granted anything he asked for’ After Dalma Maradona, the next witness was one of the accused, medical care coordinator Nancy Forlini, who was in charge of making arrangements for Maradona to be treated at home after his release from hospital. Forlini, who worked for Maradona’s private health services provider, said her work consisted of “receiving a doctor’s order, requesting authorization from the health plan, and processing it once authorization is granted.” She insisted she’s not involved in medical decisions, but instead “provides the service that the treating physician requested,” and that she “doesn’t know the patients.” Forlini also made clear that while the private health services provider will at times assign a doctor to oversee a home care situation, there was no need in this case, as “there was a treating physician.” “I remember that no medical equipment was requested,” she said when asked about the services required by Maradona’s medical team. “The only mention was that the attending physicians would be Cosachov and Luque, who requested support from therapeutic assistants and 24-hour nursing care.” She also said that, with Maradona being a “VIP patient,” he would’ve been granted “whatever they asked for.” Eight people stand accused of failing to administer proper medical care to Maradona, chiefly Luque, as well as his psychiatrist, Agustina Cosachov, and psychologist, Díaz.  The accusation came when a Medical Board found that the treatment he received was “inappropriate, inadequate, and reckless” and that the home care he was put under was insufficient. Luque, Cosachov and Díaz, along with Forlini, medical care coordinator Mariano Perroni, designated doctor Pedro Di Spagna, and nurses Ricardo Almirón and Dahiana Madrid, were charged with involuntary manslaughter. In October 2024, Madrid was granted a trial by jury, rather than Argentina’s established proceedings led by a judge, and faces a separate trial