Diego Maradona: Eight People to Face Trial for the Death of Argentinian Great

• The football world was plunged into mourning following the death of the one and only Diego Maradona in November 2020
• The Argentinian wizard died while recovering from a recent surgery, and after many years of battling substance abuse
• An appeals court in that country has now revealed that those accused of being responsible for the 60-year-old's death will now stand trial

An Argentine appeals court on Tuesday confirmed that eight medical professionals accused of responsibility in the death of football legend Diego Maradona will face trial.

Neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov and six others had appealed a 2022 decision to put them on trial for homicide with potential aggravating circumstances. Maradona died on 25 November 2020 aged 60 while recovering from brain surgery for a blood clot. This was also compounded by his much-publicised battles with substance abuse.

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He was found dead in bed two weeks after undergoing the surgery, in a rented house in a Buenos Aires neighbourhood where he was taken after being discharged from the hospital. He was found to have died of a heart attack.

The eight defendants had appealed to the court in San Isidro, northwest of Buenos Aires, against the severity of the charges, arguing that they should be accused of involuntary homicide. The initial accusation of homicide with "dolus eventualis" holds a person responsible for negligence while knowing that such conduct could lead to death.

Prosecutors accused the medical professionals of being involved in "reckless" and "deficient" home treatment of a patient. A panel of 20 medical experts convened by Argentina's public prosecutor concluded in 2021 that Maradona "would have had a better chance of survival" with the correct treatment in an appropriate medical facility.

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No trial date has yet been set. Among those accused are a psychologist, a clinical doctor, a medical coordinator, nursing coordinator and nurses.

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Pele passed away in December 2022 at the age of 82.