Police raid house, clinic of Maradona’s doctor over ‘negligence’ in treatment

Diego Maradona’s personal doctor was on Sunday being investigated for involuntary manslaughter four days after the Argentina legend suffered a fatal heart attack, prosecutors in San Isidro near Buenos Aires reported.

According to Argentinian media, Diego Maradona’s personal physician Leopoldo Luque’s house and clinic were raided by the police as the doctor is probed for negligence leading to the legend’s death. Maradona’s family and lawyer are convinced that the footballer was a victim of the doctor’s negligence.

The probe was triggered by concerns raised by three of Maradona’s daughters Dalma, Giannina and Jana over the treatment he received for his heart condition at his home in Tigre, north of Buenos Aires, judicial sources said.

On 25 November, Maradona passed away from a heart attack at the age of 60. Maradona’s attorney Matias Morla had confirmed the passing away of the football icon, saying he suffered the attack at his San Andrs home in the outskirts of Buenos Aires.

“Our investigations are ongoing, we are talking to witnesses including members of the family” of Maradona, a source close to the San Isidro inquiry told new agency AFP.

Luque, who declined to comment when contacted by AFP, had posted a photograph of himself with Maradona on the day the 60-year-old left hospital on November 12, eight days after surgery to remove a blood clot on his brain.

Maradona had recently undergone a successful brain blood clot operation, after being admitted on the basis of signs of depression and left the hospital on 11 November. Post his surgery, the focus was on treating the football legend’s dependency on alcohol. However, he passed away on Tuesday, leaving a lot of broken hearts behind.

Maradona’s lawyer Morla demanded a full-fledged strong investigation into Maradona’s death. Morla had stated that the first ambulance took more than 30 minutes to reach Maradona’s residence, situated in the north of Buenos Aires, where Maradona suffered a heart attack. Maradona’s attorney called it “criminal idiocy” and accused the hospital as the retired footballer received any medical checks in the 12 hours before he died.

As a result, Argentine police are probing into the death of Maradona and were ordered to search the office and residence of Luque, a local prosecutor’s office said. The search order was accepted and signed by a local judge, according to a statement issued by the prosecutor’s office.

“Yesterday (Saturday) the investigation and substantiation of evidence continued with the taking of statements from people including direct relatives of the deceased,” the prosecutor’s office said in the statement.

“By virtue of the evidence that was collected, it was considered necessary to request searches at the home and office of doctor Leopoldo Luque.”

WITH AGENCY INPUTS