Maradona Trial Suspended Over Kidney Test Mix-Up
The trial into the death of Diego Maradona has been abruptly suspended after explosive claims that key kidney test results shown in court may not belong to the Argentina icon at all – but to his late father.
Seven healthcare workers stand accused of 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 at a rented house in Tigre, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
The case was already carrying heavy scandal. The first trial collapsed last year after two and a half months of testimony, when it emerged that one of the judges had secretly taken part in a documentary about the proceedings. A new panel and a new trial were convened in April, and the process had been edging towards its conclusion.
Then came the latest twist.
Defense lawyers now argue that kidney test results presented as evidence during the trial were not Maradona’s, but those of his father – also called Diego – who died in 2015. If that is confirmed, it would strike at the heart of the medical commission appointed to analyse the care the 1986 World Cup winner received before his death.
Faced with the allegations, the court halted hearings and adjourned the trial until 27 August to allow a full review of the evidence.
Inside the courtroom, the medical debate remains fierce. On Tuesday, a nephrologist told judges that the state of Maradona’s kidneys should have been an unmistakable alarm bell for his doctors. According to his testimony, the former Napoli and Boca Juniors star required “daily medical checkups, daily nursing care, blood tests and monitoring of his vital signs” in the days before he died.
Maradona passed away from heart failure and acute pulmonary edema – fluid in the lungs – just two weeks after undergoing surgery for a brain clot. The prosecution argues that his medical team failed him in that vulnerable window, accusing them of inadequate care. All seven defendants deny any wrongdoing.
Despite the uproar over the kidney tests, prosecutors insist their case remains solid. “They will not succeed in bringing down the trial,” said prosecutor Patricio Ferrari, dismissing the defense’s claim as an attempt to derail proceedings rather than a fatal blow to the evidence.
On the other side, there is little appetite – at least publicly – to push for another collapse of the process. A lawyer representing nurse Nancy Forlini, one of the accused, rejected any notion of seeking a mistrial. “I want this case to end so that my client knows her judicial fate,” he said, underlining the fatigue surrounding a saga that has already stretched for years.
Yet the stakes of the alleged mix‑up are obvious. If the kidney results are proven to be those of Maradona’s father, the credibility of the expert medical commission, which has been sharply critical of the care given to the former No. 10, would be badly damaged. The nephrologist who testified on Tuesday is a member of that very panel.
The legal battle over how Maradona spent his final days now hangs in the balance once again. When the court reconvenes in late August, it will not just be the defendants’ conduct under the microscope, but the integrity of the investigation itself – and with it, Argentina’s search for a definitive answer to how its greatest footballing idol was allowed to die.
