Maradona's death: 7 charged with involuntary manslaughter

Buenos Aires: Less than six months after the death of Argentinian Football legend Diego Maradona, the public prosecutor's office has brought charges of involuntary manslaughter against seven health professionals who were the part of his medical and nursing team.

The seven defendants are not allowed to leave the country and will have to make their statements starting at the end of May, DPA reports.

The action came after a medical board's report concluded that Maradona did not receive adequate treatment and he was in agony for more than 12 hours. The report handed over to prosecutors this month, says that he could still be alive if he had been properly hospitalised..

The care that Maradona received at the rented house, the report said, did not fulfill the minimum requirements for a patient with his medical history. Maradona had suffered a series of medical problems, some due to excesses of drugs and alcohol.

Some reports cited a 29-page document from the prosecutor's office as saying that the medical professionals, despite being aware of the poor health of the patient, "took actions contrary to medical practice and failed to perform specific actions ... worsening Diego Armando Maradona's medical situation and putting him in a position of helplessness."

Prosecutors on Wednesday charged the former Argentine footballer's personal physician and neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque and psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, the two leaders of Maradona's medical team, and five other health professionals with involuntary manslaughter. A doctor, a psychologist, two nurses and a nurse coordinator were the others.

Luque, Cosachov and several nurses are facing between eight and 25 years of imprisonment if convicted, according to reports from La Nacion citing judicial sources and TN television station citing legal documents.

Earlier this month , Julio Rivas, a lawyer for Luque, had said that medical forensics of the report were flawed and biased... with no scientific foundation

Maradona died of a heart attack last year in November at the age of 60. He was recovering from brain surgery at the time. He was reportedly near death in 2000 and 2004.

A commission of experts recently made serious allegations against his doctors and nurses.