Diego Maradona’s personal doctor is under investigation on suspicion of possible manslaughter following the death of the sporting legend four days ago,
The doctor, Leopold Luque, has not been charged and denies wrongdoing.
In a recent TV interview he emotionally stated that Maradona was “his own worst enemy” in regards to seeking professional help, highlighting own efforts to improve the football legend’s health.
“Do I have regrets? I don’t know, because he wanted a life that was bad.”
Luque, 39, had his home and private clinic searched by around 50 police officers in Buenos Aires as officials are trying to establish if there was any negligence in Maradona’s post-surgery treatment.
Maradona was due to be treated for alcohol dependency after a successful operation on a blood clot in his brain earlier this month.
Insisting on his innocence, Luque said that he was “shocked” upon witnessing reports of alleged negligence and that the footballer’s death is being treated as manslaughter.
“You want to know what I am responsible for? For having loved him, for having taken care of him, for having extended his life, for having improved it to the end.”
Watch Leopold Luque full interview with Argentinian news outlet Todo Noticias here.
Argentinian officials have gathered potential evidence regarding alleged medical negligence towards Maradona. During the raids, law enforcement officers have seized computers, mobile phones and medical notes from Luque’s home and clinic in order to help with their investigation.
The suspicion is that the conditions of discharge may have not been adhered to the required standards, which include a 24-hour team of nurses “specialised in substance abuse“. Officials want to obtain more information about Luque’s possible involvement in Maradona’s recovery at the late legend’s house.
Further suspicions included the absence of a stand-by ambulance with a defibrillator and the on-call presence of doctors. Luque addressed a few concerns saying that his “job ended” with the brain surgery and further insisted that Maradona’s recuperation was not his responsibility.
He also said that he didn’t know why the defibrillator was absent or why the ambulance wasn’t present outside. Luque called Maradona “unmanageable” and suggested that he should have gone to a rehabilitation centre.
“I tried everything I could with him, up to the impossible.”
As the plot surrounding the reasoning of Maradona’s death thickens, The Times has reported conflicting accounts of what happened on the morning of Maradona’s death and are apparently at the centre of the police investigation.
Matias Morla, Maradona’s lawyer has accused medical personnel of ignoring his condition for the final 12 hours of his life and labelled the time it took for an ambulance to arrive as “criminal idiocy”.
Morla continued to make his strong accusations on his Twitter, and is asking Argentinian police to take matters seriously.
The outcome of the findings from Leopold Luque’s home and office have not yet been released to the press and the investigation is said to be ongoing.