Surgeon Rodolfo Benvenuti, who led the team that operated on Diego Maradona days before his death, testified that the medical team had warned the star’s entourage of the risks involved in home-based care.

“Home care has special requirements to avoid complications,” he told the judges in a hearing on Thursday. “He wasn’t a regular patient; he was Maradona. His [medical and personal] problems required a lot more than is normally necessary for a home care situation.”

The surgeon went on to brand the star’s chief medical adviser, Leopoldo Luque, as a “coordinator between the various medical specialties.” He added that he met with Maradona twice and that, in his opinion, the former player was “in full knowledge of the situation” and “calling the shots.”

He also commented on the tense relationship between Luque and Maradona’s longtime friend Víctor Stinfale.

“Luque complained that [Stinfale] was taking the biggest opportunity of his life away from him,” Benevenuti said, referencing the fact that he was not being allowed to operate on Maradona. 

“That sent Stinfale into a frenzy. I feared it would come to blows.”

Tuesday’s hearing

Earlier this week, psychiatrist Marcela Waisman Campos testified in the trial and said that her colleague  — and one of the main defendants — Agustina Cosachov had handled the star’s pharmacological aspect “well.” The two psychiatrists shared interconsults during the length of Maradona’s treatment. 

Two administrative workers from medical service provider Swiss Medical, Enrique Barrios and Germán Dornelli, also testified on Tuesday, providing details on the star’s home-care arrangement.

Dornelli confirmed “there was no medical equipment” at the home where the star died.