The autopsy results for Argentine football icon Diego Maradona were made public for the first time on Thursday during a trial against seven doctors and nurses who treated him before his death in 2020.
Two coroners who conducted Maradona’s autopsy stated that the football legend endured up to twelve hours of excruciating pain due to fluid buildup in his abdomen and lungs.
The cause of death was determined to be acute pulmonary edema, heart failure, and a heart condition, according to local media covering the trial.
Maradona’s death was "neither sudden nor unexpected," forensic expert Carlos Mauricio Cassinelli testified in court, as reported by the newspaper La Nación.
His heart weighed twice as much as a normal heart, and a total of 4.5 litres of water had accumulated in his organs. Cassinelli added that Maradona should not have been treated at home.
Football icon Diego Armando Maradona when playing at Barcelona. Credit: Belga Archives
More than four years after Maradona’s death, the trial began on Tuesday against seven doctors and nurses who treated him.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office has charged Maradona’s personal physician and his psychiatrist with manslaughter, along with a psychologist, another doctor, the medical coordinator of the health insurance company, and two nurses.
All defendants deny the charges. If found guilty, they face prison sentences of up to 25 years.
