Diego Maradona's daughter testifies in negligence trial saying family was deceived by doctors
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — One of Diego Maradona's daughters testified Tuesday in the trial of seven medical professionals accused of negligence in the soccer great's death, describing the room where her father underwent home hospitalization in 2020 as "disgusting" and "smelling of urine."
Dalma Maradona said she and her siblings were deceived by the doctors treating their father.
"They promised us a home hospitalization that never happened," said Dalma, the eldest of the former Argentina captain's five children and the first of them to testify in court.
"They made us believe in something that never happened. They deceived us in the cruelest way to support that," she added.
Maradona, who led Argentina to the World Cup title in 1986, died on Nov. 25, 2020 while undergoing home hospitalization on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, days after undergoing surgery for a hematoma that formed between his skull and brain. He was 60.
Dalma said the facility was not fit for medical treatment.
"It smelled like urine, the bed was disgusting," she said. "There was a portable toilet. There was this panel on the windows to keep out the light. There was nothing. It was horrible. The kitchen was disgusting."
Seven health care professionals, including a neurosurgeon and a psychiatrist, are on trial for failing to provide adequate care and could face a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.
Dalma recalled that after the hematoma surgery, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, and psychologist Carlos Díaz — three of the defendants whom she identified as "my father's doctors" — suggested home hospitalization since Maradona did not want to remain hospitalized.
"There were three options (voluntary hospitalization, forced hospitalization, and home hospitalization), but they made us understand that home hospitalization was the only option," Dalma said. "They promised us 24-hour nurses to monitor his blood pressure and to give him medication."
Last week, Diego Maradona's ex-wife and a doctor also questioned the decision to take him to a private home following the surgery instead of admitting him to a rehabilitation center.
The deficiencies in Maradona's home care are one of the prosecution's key pieces of evidence against the defendants.
Dalma Maradona said the last time she saw her father alive was at the hospital as she had not been allowed access to the house where he was rehabilitating until after he was dead.
"I went into the room (after he died), he was very swollen. He was covered with a sheet, but you could see he was swollen," she said. "I threw myself on him because I thought he was going to wake up. His face was very swollen, his hands, his face. His stomach, his body. Everything."
She added, "I miss him every day of my life, and what pains me the most is knowing that if they (the doctors) had done their job, this could have been avoided," Dalma concluded.
"It's still very painful to remember the abuse he suffered, and I didn't know. If I had known this was going to be the outcome, I would have handled it differently. But I never thought about it."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Korea Herald
28-05-2025
- Korea Herald
France's National Assembly adopts long-debated bill end-of-life options
PARIS (AP) — France's lower house of parliament adopted a bill Tuesday to allow adults with incurable illnesses to take lethal medication, as public demands grow across Europe for legal end-of-life options. The National Assembly vote is a key step on the long-debated issue, though others remain before the bill can become law. 'I'm thinking of all the patients and their loved ones that I've met over more than a decade. Many are no longer here, and they always told me: Keep fighting," said Olivier Falorni, the bill's general rapporteur, amid applause from fellow lawmakers. The proposed measure on lethal medication defines assisted dying as allowing use under certain conditions so that people may take it themselves. Only those whose physical condition doesn't allow them to do it alone would be able to get help from a doctor or a nurse. The bill, which received 305 votes in favor and 199 against, will be sent to the Senate, where the conservative majority could seek to amend it. A definitive vote on the measure could take months to be scheduled amid France's long and complex process. The National Assembly has final say over the Senate. Activists have criticized the complexity and length of the parliamentary process that they say is penalizing patients waiting for end-of-life options. In parallel, another bill on palliative care meant to reinforce measures to relieve pain and preserve patients' dignity was also adopted Tuesday, unanimously. To benefit, patients would need to be over 18 and be French citizens or live in France. A team of medical professionals would need to confirm that the patient has a grave and incurable illness 'at an advanced or terminal stage,' is suffering from intolerable and untreatable pain, and is seeking lethal medication of their own free will. Patients with severe psychiatric conditions and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease won't be eligible. The person would initiate the request for lethal medication and confirm the request after a period of reflection. If approved, a doctor would deliver a prescription for the lethal medication, which could be taken at home or at a nursing home or a health care facility. A 2023 report indicated that most French citizens back legalizing end-of-life options, and opinion polls show growing support over the past 20 years. Initial discussions in parliament last year were abruptly interrupted by President Emmanuel Macron's decision to dissolve the National Assembly, plunging France into a monthslong political crisis. 'What a long road it has been, contrary to what the public thought, contrary to what the French people believed,' said Jonathan Denis, president of the Association for the Right to Die With Dignity. Earlier this month, Macron suggested he could ask French voters to approve the measure via referendum if parliament discussions get off track. Macron on Tuesday called the vote an important step, adding on social media that "with respect for different sensibilities, doubts, and hopes, the path of fraternity I had hoped for is gradually beginning to open. With dignity and humanity.' Many French people have traveled to neighboring countries where medically assisted suicide or euthanasia is legal. Medically assisted suicide involves patients taking, of their own free will, a lethal drink or medication prescribed by a doctor to those who meet certain criteria. Euthanasia involves doctors or other health practitioners giving patients who meet certain criteria a lethal injection at their own request. 'I cannot accept that French men and women have to go to Switzerland — if they can afford it — or to Belgium to be supported in their choice, or that French men and women are being accompanied clandestinely in other countries," Denis said. French religious leaders this month issued a joint statement to denounce the bill, warning about the dangers of an 'anthropological rupture.' The Conference of Religious Leaders in France, which represents the Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist communities, said the proposed measures risk exerting pressure on older people and those with illnesses or disabilities. Assisted suicide is allowed in Switzerland and several US states. Euthanasia is currently legal in the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Canada, Australia, Colombia, Belgium and Luxembourg under certain conditions. In the United Kingdom, lawmakers are debating a bill to help terminally ill adults end their lives in England and Wales after giving it initial approval in November.
Korea Herald
19-05-2025
- Korea Herald
Biden has been diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, his office said Sunday. Biden was seen by doctors last week after urinary symptoms and a prostate nodule were found. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer on Friday, with the cancer cells having spread to the bone. 'While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management," his office said. "The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.' Prostate cancers are graded for aggressiveness using what's known as a Gleason score. The scores range from 6 to 10, with 8, 9 and 10 prostate cancers behaving more aggressively. Biden's office said his score was 9, suggesting his cancer is among the most aggressive. When prostate cancer spreads to other parts of the body, it often spreads to the bones. Metastasized cancer is much harder to treat than localized cancer because it can be hard for drugs to reach all the tumors and completely root out the disease. However, when prostate cancers need hormones to grow, as in Biden's case, they can be susceptible to treatment that deprives the tumors of hormones. Outcomes have improved in recent decades and patients can expect to live with metastatic prostate cancer for four or five years, said Dr. Matthew Smith of Massachusetts General Brigham Cancer Center. 'It's very treatable, but not curable,' Smith said. 'Most men in this situation would be treated with drugs and would not be advised to have either surgery or radiation therapy.' Many political leaders sent Biden their wishes for his recovery. President Donald Trump , a longtime political opponent, posted on social media that he was saddened by the news and 'we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.' Biden's vice president, Kamala Harris, said on social media that she was keeping him in her family's 'hearts and prayers during this time.' 'Joe is a fighter — and I know he will face this challenge with the same strength, resilience, and optimism that have always defined his life and leadership,' Harris wrote. The health of Biden, 82, was a dominant concern among voters during his time as president. After a calamitous debate performance in June while seeking reelection, Biden abandoned his bid for a second term. Harris became the nominee and lost to Trump, a Republican who returned to the White House after a four-year hiatus. But in recent days, Biden rejected concerns about his age despite reporting in the new book 'Original Sin' by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson that aides had shielded the public from the extent of his decline while serving as president. In February 2023, Biden had a skin lesion removed from his chest that was a basal cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer. And in November 2021, he had a polyp removed from his colon that was a benign, but potentially pre-cancerous lesion. In 2022, Biden made a 'cancer moonshot' one of his administration's priorities with the goal of halving the cancer death rate over the next 25 years. The initiative was a continuation of his work as vice president to address a disease that had killed his older son, Beau, who died from brain cancer in 2015. His father, when announcing the goal to halve the cancer death rate, said this could be an 'American moment to prove to ourselves and, quite frankly, the world that we can do really big things.'
Korea Herald
12-05-2025
- Korea Herald
Trump says will sign order aimed at cutting US drug prices
US President said he would reduce prescription prices by between 30 and 80 percent WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump says he planned to sign an executive order on Monday that, if implemented, could bring down the costs of some medications -- reviving a failed effort from his first term on an issue he's talked up since even before becoming president. The order Trump is promising will direct the Department of Health and Human Services to tie what Medicare pays for medications administrated in a doctor's office to the lowest price paid by other countries. 'I will be instituting a MOST FAVORED NATION'S POLICY whereby the United States will pay the same price as the Nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World,' the president posted Sunday on his social media site, pledging to sign the order. 'Our Country will finally be treated fairly, and our citizens Healthcare Costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before,' Trump added. His proposal would likely only impact certain drugs covered by Medicare and given in an office -- think infusions that treat cancer, and other injectables. But it could potentially bring significant savings to the government, although the 'TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS' Trump boasted about in his post may be an exaggeration. Medicare provides health insurance for roughly 70 million older Americans. Complaints about US drug prices being notoriously high, even when compared with other large and wealthy countries, have long drawn the ire of both parties, but a lasting fix has never cleared Congress. Under the planned order, the federal government would tie what it pays pharmaceutical companies for those drugs to the price paid by a group of other, economically advanced countries -- the so-called 'most favored nation' approach. The proposal will face fierce opposition from the pharmaceutical industry. It was a rule that Trump tried to adopt during his first term, but could never get through. He signed a similar executive order in the final weeks of his presidency, but a court order later blocked the rule from going into effect under the Biden administration. The pharmaceutical industry argued that Trump's 2020 attempt would give foreign governments the 'upper hand' in deciding the value of medicines in the US. The industry has long argued that forcing lower prices will hurt profits, and ultimately affect innovation and its efforts to develop new medicines. Only drugs on Medicare Part B -- the insurance for doctor's office visits -- are likely to be covered under the plan. Medicare beneficiaries are responsible for picking up some of the costs to get those medications during doctor's visits, and for traditional Medicare enrollees there is no annual out-of-pocket cap on what they pay. A report by the Trump administration during its first term found that the US spends twice as much as some other countries in covering those drugs. Medicare Part B drug spending topped $33 billion in 2021. More common prescription drugs filled at a pharmacy would probably not be covered by the new order. Trump's post formally previewing the action came after he teased a 'very big announcement' last week. He gave no details, except to note that it wasn't related to trade or the tariffs he has announced imposing on much of the world. 'We're going to have a very, very big announcement to make -- like as big as it gets,' Trump said last week. He came into his first term accusing pharmaceutical companies of 'getting away with murder' and complaining that other countries whose governments set drug prices were taking advantage of Americans. On Sunday, Trump took aim at the industry again, writing that the 'Pharmaceutical/Drug Companies would say, for years, that it was Research and Development Costs, and that all of these costs were, and would be, for no reason whatsoever, borne by the 'suckers' of America, ALONE.' Referring to drug companies' powerful lobbying efforts, he said that campaign contributions 'can do wonders, but not with me, and not with the Republican Party.' 'We are going to do the right thing,' he wrote.
