Maradona Medical Team Ignored Warning Signs Before Death, Experts Testify

Forensic experts told a San Isidro court on August 11, 2026, that medical teams ignored severe warning signs, including swelling and breathlessness, during the home hospitalization preceding Diego Maradona’s death in November 2020. Seven healthcare professionals are currently standing trial in Argentina for potential negligence.

The courtroom proceedings examining the final days of the Argentine football icon have laid bare a stark picture of medical inaction. Those indicators included edema in the lower limbs, swollen fingers, shortness of breath, hypertension, and an abnormally fast heart rate.

Nobody went to see what that swelling was about even though it posed a life-threatening risk, Cassinelli told the court in San Isidro, north of Buenos Aires. The medical board concluded that the defendants failed to alter their treatment approach even as the former Barcelona and Napoli superstar’s health deteriorated progressively. Cassinelli added his personal view that placing the 1986 World Cup winner under home hospitalization was a fundamental mistake.

Testimony from the Inner Circle Reveals Bedridden Decline

Witnesses closest to Maradona during his final weeks described a patient who was entirely bedridden, increasingly isolated, and resigned to his fate. Nicolas Taffarel, who worked as Maradona’s massage therapist starting in 2018, testified that the player refused to leave his room, eat, change clothes, or wash during the two-week home recovery period, as detailed by Al Jazeera.

Taffarel recounted a distressing visit on November 24, 2020—just one day before Maradona died—when he attempted to persuade the football legend to drink mate. When asked what was wrong, Maradona delivered an ambiguous response captured in court records: I don’t want anything, Taffita, that’s it. When pressed further, he simply replied, Nothing, that’s it.

Maradona Medical Team Ignored Warning Signs Before Death, Experts Testify — Photo: chinadaily.com.cn

The masseur testified that he repeatedly warned Maradona’s personal physician, Leopoldo Luque, via audio messages that the patient was heavily bloated, sleeping for extended periods, and suffering from severe fluid retention.

Martín Aníbal Domínguez, one of Maradona’s personal bodyguards, corroborated the accounts of neglect. Domínguez testified that Maradona’s primary doctor failed to visit despite multiple alerts and the patient’s explicit belief that his physician was coming to examine him, Goal.com reported.

Domínguez noted that Luque visited the Tigre residence only four times during the fourteen days the star spent there before his death: on November 17, 18, 20, and 22. Autopsy findings later revealed that Maradona died in his sleep from acute pulmonary edema caused by an acute exacerbation of chronic heart failure, accompanied by three liters of fluid in his abdomen and generalized edema spanning several days.

The Legal Battle and Accusations of Simple Homicide

The ongoing trial in San Isidro marks a restart after initial proceedings were annulled when a presiding judge was discovered filming a secret documentary about the case.

Prosecutor Patricio Ferrari argued at the opening of the trial that the defendants acted like an amateur group characterized by criminal indifference while providing home care that was devoid of everything necessary for a vulnerable patient. Forensic experts estimated that Maradona endured approximately 12 hours of severe distress and agony before passing away, a window during which prosecutors maintain hospitalization could have saved his life.

The defendants maintain their innocence, asserting that Maradona succumbed to natural causes stemming from his lifelong struggles with alcohol and drug addiction. Luque’s defense team, led by attorney Francisco Oneto, has adopted an active strategy in court, frequently presenting audiovisual evidence and contesting medical board interpretations while the legal teams representing Maradona’s family continue to press for accountability.