The San Isidro prosecutor’s office in Argentina announced that Diego Maradona’s doctor is under investigation for manslaughter. The soccer icon died of cardiac arrest at the age of 60 on Wednesday.
The police raided Leopoldo Luque’s office and home on Sunday in search of elements relating to possible professional negligence, according to the prosecution and images broadcast by television.
The implication of Luque, who operated on Maradona at the beginning of November for a hematoma on the head, does not automatically imply an interrogation, a police custody or a deprivation of liberty, specified legal sources of San Isidro.
“We are continuing the investigations by collecting testimonies, including those of members of the family of Maradona,” a police officer said.
The investigation was triggered following statements by the three daughters of Maradona, Dalma, Gianinna and Jana, regarding how the former soccer player’s heart problem was managed at his residence in Tigre, a suburb of Buenos Aires.
Luque admitted he does not know why there was no heart attack defibrillator at Maradona’s home and has made it clear that he was not her attending physician.
“Do you want to know what I’m responsible for? For loving him, for taking care of him, for extending his life, for improving him until the end,” Luque said.
“I am a neurosurgeon. I am the person who took care of him [since the operation]. I am proud of everything that I have done. I have nothing to hide. I am at the disposal of justice,” Luque added.
Maradona appeared to be recovering well from the head surgery he underwent four weeks before her death. The location of the residence where he was convalescing had been chosen so that he was close to his daughters.
“He should have gone to a rehabilitation center. He did not want and did not want a therapeutic companion either,” Luque said.
“A psychiatrist had requested that there always be an ambulance in front of his house. I don’t know who is responsible for the fact that there was no ambulance [that day],” he added.
