BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Experts involved in Diego Maradona’s autopsy testified on Tuesday at the trial of seven health professionals accused of negligent homicide that the Argentine soccer star had an abnormally large heart, suffered from cirrhosis, and showed no traces of alcohol or drugs at the time of is death.
Forensic expert Alejandro Ezequiel Vega told the court that Maradona’s heart was “enlarged” and weighed about 503 grams, when the average weight is between 250 and 300 grams.
Maradona, who led Argentina to the World Cup title in 1986, died on Nov. 25, 2020. He was 60.
Vega explained that the examination of Maradona’s heart showed that the former star suffered from “long-standing ischemia,” with “lack of blood flow and oxygen.”
The autopsy concluded that Maradona died of acute pulmonary edema secondary to congestive heart failure.
Maradona died in a house on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, days after undergoing surgery for a hematoma that formed between his skull and brain.
According to the prosecution, the seven professionals charged in the case — a neurosurgeon, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, doctors, and nurses — who were caring for the former soccer great failed to provide adequate care, which may have led to his death.
During the testimony, forensic expert Ezequiel Gustavo Ventosi stated that the blood and urine samples taken from Maradona showed no traces of alcohol or drugs.
Meanwhile, Silvana De Piero, from the same police task force, said that the liver analysis detected “conditions compatible with cirrhosis,” and that the kidney “had altered function and lacked a good blood supply to carry oxygen.”
Among those on trial is Leopoldo Luque, Maradona’s personal physician during the last four years of his life; and psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, who prescribed the medication Maradona took until the time of his death.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Alexis Lara strikes a soccer ball to his friend Yamil Manrique tending the goal line, backdropped by a mural dedicated to soccer legend Diego Maradona, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
