A doctor close to Diego Maradona testified at his death trial on Thursday that a simple diuretic could have helped improve the football legend’s health “within 48 hours”.
“Within about 48 hours his condition would have improved markedly,” said Dr. Mario Schiter, who treated Maradona in the early 2000s and attended his autopsy in 2020, when asked what could have prevented the footballer’s demise in his final days.
«Every day I see these types of patients in intensive care, who come in with congestive heart failure. We give them diuretics to reduce their volume and after twelve hours they are already back home,» the intensive care specialist added.
Seven healthcare professionals are on trial in San Isidro for possible negligence in Maradona’s death, and face up to 25 years in prison if convicted. The trial is expected to last until July.
READ | Diego Maradona had a bipolar disorder, was a narcissist: psychologist in his death process
Schiter’s testimony follows several experts who have reported that Maradona – who led Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986 – had excess fluid in several organs when he died.
“He had water everywhere,” Carlos Casinelli said last Thursday, as another doctor who took part in the autopsy. He said these liters of fluid could not have accumulated “in less than a week or ten days,” suggesting his medical team should have noticed the swelling.
In 2020, Schiter had advised against home hospitalization after Maradona underwent surgery, but that year the champion footballer chose to recover in a rented house north of Buenos Aires, where he died at the age of 60 from pulmonary edema and cardiac arrest.
Published on May 15, 2026
