ZCZC
BSP-06
ARGENTINA-FBL-ARG-MARADONA-JUSTICE
Nursing coordinator denies responsibility in Maradona death
SAN ISIDRO, Argentina, June 19, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – The coordinator in charge
of the nurses that treated Diego Maradona at his home denied any involvement
in the football icon’s death when interviewed by Argentine prosecutors on
Friday.
Mariano Perroni, 40, is the third of seven people under investigation for
manslaughter to testify in the case that has gripped the country.
The 1986 World Cup-winning captain died of a heart attack last November at
the age of 60, just weeks after undergoing brain surgery for a blood clot.
“I told them I was in charge of nothing more than the (nurses’) arrival and
departure times. I’m not responsible for any medical action,” Perroni told
AFP after leaving the public prosecutor’s office in San Isidro, on the
outskirts of the capital Buenos Aires, where he spent three hours answering
questions.
“I don’t give medical advice, we relied on the decisions of the doctors in
charge.”
Prosecutors opened an investigation after a board of experts looking into
Maradona’s death found he had received inadequate care and was abandoned to
his fate for a “prolonged, agonizing period”.
He was a sort of personnel coordinator, his job was to assemble the team of
nurses to ensure they entered (the house) and completed their shifts,” the
coordinator’s lawyer Miguel Angel Pierri told reporters.
“The treating doctors gave the medical directives.
“Perroni was never in the house, he doesn’t know Maradona, he was never in
contact with him.”
Perroni’s interview came two days after a lawyer for one of the nurses that
attended to Maradona told reporters that doctors “killed Diego” through their
negligence.
Nurses Dahiana Gisela Madrid, 36, and Ricardo Almiron, 37 — two of the
last people to see Maradona alive — said this week they were following the
orders of his treating doctors.
They both admit to having failed to perform routine checks on Maradona just
before he died.
– ‘Disinterested and indifferent’ –
Prosecutors say Perroni had “full knowledge of what was done and what was
not done, particularly in terms of the management of nurses for the patient.”
They also accuse him of having demonstrated “disinterested and indifferent
behavior given the urgent situation.”
Perroni’s defense is that his role was merely administrative and involved
collecting the nurses’ reports and worksheets filled out when they changed
shifts.
He claims to have passed on these documents to Nancy Forlini, 52,
Maradona’s home medical coordinator who is also under investigation and will
be interviewed on Monday.
Both Almiron and Madrid told prosecutors earlier this week that the house
rented for Maradona did not contain the equipment necessary to treat a
patient suffering from heart disease.
Both said they had not been told he suffered from heart disease and had
been instructed not to disturb him while he rested.
Maradona had battled cocaine and alcohol addictions.
The former Boca Juniors, Barcelona and Napoli star was suffering from
liver, kidney and cardiovascular disorders when he died.
Psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, 35, psychologist Carlos Diaz, 29, and
neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque are to be questioned next week.
Two of Maradona’s children blame Luque for their father’s deteriorating
condition after the brain operation.
A panel of 20 medical experts convened by Argentina’s public prosecutor
said last month that Maradona’s treatment was rife with “deficiencies and
irregularities” and the medical team had left his survival “to fate”.
If found guilty, the seven, who are barred from leaving the country, could
face between eight and 25 years in prison.
Maradona is an idol to millions of Argentines after he inspired the South
American country to only their second World Cup triumph in 1986.
BSS/AFP/GMR/1133 hrs