Maradona Trial Suspended Amid Kidney Test Controversy

The long, fraught search for answers over Diego Maradona’s death has been thrown into fresh turmoil, with the trial in Argentina abruptly suspended amid claims that key medical tests belonged not to the 1986 World Cup icon, but to his father.

Seven healthcare workers are charged with criminal negligence over the treatment Maradona received in the days leading up to his death at 60, in November 2020, while he was recovering from brain surgery. All deny wrongdoing.

The case had already been scarred by scandal. The first trial was annulled last year after two and a half months of hearings, when it emerged that one of the judges had secretly taken part in a clandestine documentary about the proceedings.

A new trial began in April. It had moved steadily toward a verdict. Then the kidney tests exploded into the story.

Kidney tests under the microscope

Defense lawyers now argue that kidney test results presented as evidence in court did not belong to Diego Armando Maradona at all, but to his father, Diego Maradona senior, who died in 2015.

The allegation is serious. If confirmed, it would not only cast doubt on a crucial strand of medical evidence, but could also discredit the expert commission tasked with evaluating the circumstances of Maradona’s final days.

One of those experts, a nephrologist, appeared before the court on Tuesday. He told judges that the condition of Maradona’s kidneys should have set off alarm bells for his medical team. According to his testimony, the former Napoli and Argentina star required daily medical checkups, daily nursing care, regular blood tests and close monitoring of his vital signs.

That same nephrologist is a member of the medical commission whose conclusions have been sharply critical of the care Maradona received. If the tests he relied on are proven to be from the wrong patient, the blow to that commission’s credibility would be substantial.

Court hits pause, prosecution digs in

Faced with the claims over the kidney samples, the court adjourned the trial until 27 August to allow time to review the evidence and trace exactly whose tests were used.

Prosecutors, though, moved quickly to project strength. They insist the alleged mix-up does not undermine the core of their case.

“They (the defense) will not succeed in bringing down the trial,” prosecutor Patricio Ferrari said, dismissing suggestions that the controversy could collapse the proceedings.

On the other side, there was no rush to call for a mistrial. A lawyer for one of the accused, nurse Nancy Forlini, rejected the idea of trying to blow up the process.

“I want this case to end so that my client knows her judicial fate,” he said, underlining the desire of the defendants to finally hear a verdict after years of legal and media scrutiny.

A legend’s final days under relentless scrutiny

Maradona died of heart failure and acute pulmonary edema — fluid in the lungs — at a rented house in the Buenos Aires suburb of Tigre, two weeks after surgery for a brain clot. His death sent shockwaves through Argentina and the football world, and immediately triggered questions over whether his care had been anywhere near sufficient for such a fragile patient.

The medical team stands accused of providing inadequate treatment in the build-up to his death. They reject that charge, arguing they did what they could for a complex, high-risk patient.

Now the entire process pauses again, with the spotlight fixed on a set of kidney tests and a basic but damning question: whose body, exactly, was being measured in the evidence that helped shape the case over Diego Maradona’s final days?