Major Commissioner Mauricio Cassinelli, Diego Armando Maradona’s autopsy expert, testified before the court that, at the time of his death, the popular idol had “a heart that weighed more than twice the normal size”, had “generalized edema, from head to toe” and signs of a long agony, which could have lasted up to twelve hours. Cassinelli, who at the time was director of Legal Medicine of the Scientific Police, said that Maradona had an accumulation of “four and a half liters of water in the body“, three of which were in the abdomen.
In addition, he said that “the water he found in the body ‘does not form in a day, in two or in four’, but ‘is something that is progressing'”. Although he clarified that he could not specify the exact time, he spoke of “a minimum of ten days”.
In Maradona’s heart, a “dilated cardiomyopathy” was discovered, a disease of the heart muscle that causes the heart chambers to enlarge and stretch.
He didn’t have a “normal heart”
The expert specified in his testimony that Maradona’s heart “weighed twice as much as a normal heart” and that they found “cruoric clots” that only form when the patient goes through a period of agony.
While he could not determine the exact time the former soccer player’s agony lasted, he said that “from 12:30 at night he did not receive controls, so we said that he could have had an agony of up to twelve hours.”
The witness made his statement relying on explicit images of the autopsy that were exhibited before a full courtroom. “All fat,” the expert said, pointing to Maradona’s lung, and then showed “sick kidneys,” with what he defined as “signs of nephroangiosclerosis.”
“He also had liver cirrhosis,” said the expert, displaying an image of the liver. Jana Maradona, who returned to the trial on Thursday after giving a statement last Tuesday, left the hearing before the images of her father’s autopsy were shown. The autopsy concluded that Maradona died on November 25, 2020 as a result of “acute pulmonary edema secondary to exacerbated chronic heart failure“.
Acute secondary pulmonary edema is a medical emergency that occurs when there is a buildup of fluid in the lungs and can be due to heart failure or lung damage.From the forensic examination, the expert estimated the time of death between 9am and 12 noon.
The Other Maradona Autopsy
At the request of the defendants’ defense, expert Pablo Ferrari, an official expert of the Supreme Court of the province of Buenos Aires, carried out another forensic report last year that contradicts the one presented on Thursday. In his 25-page report, he assured that Maradona had not received medical or pharmacological assistance related to a coronary pathology, and estimated the agonizing condition “in minutes or, at most, a few hours”.
The San Isidro Prosecutor’s Office had questioned this document, considering that the expert report was carried out without a forensic team, in 72 hours and based on evidence from the defense of the neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, the star’s personal physician, who allegedly insisted on home care instead of admission to a health clinic.
Another of the accused is psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, who is accused of failing to administer Maradona’s medication correctly, ignoring the side effects and falsifying a certificate of a visit to the late former footballer.
Also in the dock are psychoanalyst Carlos Diaz, doctor and coordinator of the private health company Swiss Medical Nancy Forlini, clinical doctor Pedro Di Spagna, nursing coordinator Mariano Perroni and nurse Ricardo Almiron
Request denied to the star’s son
The court trying seven defendants for the death of Maradona decided on Thursday not to remove the idol’s sisters from the lawsuit, after it was requested by Diego Junior’s lawyer – one of his sons – arguing that they had illegitimately benefited from Maradona’s trademark.
“The court unanimously decides that it is not appropriate to separate the sisters from the case,” said the court composed of judges Maximiliano Savarino, Veronica Di Tommaso and Julieta Makintach.
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