Diego Maradona’s psychiatrist, Agustina Cosachov, took the stand surprisingly in the trial over the former star’s death and said that home care was determined after Maradona’s family rejected the idea of committing him to a rehabilitation center. 

Cosachov, one of the three main accused in the case, altered the order of the day after asking to testify at the opening of Thursday’s hearing. She took questions from the prosecution and the defense in order to explain what her role in Maradona’s treatment was, while also trying to shift the narrative that the star’s family was not involved in any medical decisions.

Cosachov discussed how Maradona’s medical team and family came to the decision of putting him under home care, rebutting suggestions made by other witnesses that the doctors led the star’s relatives on. She argued that hospital directors, family members, chief medical adviser Leopoldo Luque, and others from Maradona’s entourage were part of several meetings where the decision was made.

“Home care was a viable option,” Cosachov said. She added that there were fears that Maradona would relapse if left to his own devices and that he picked the house where he stayed as it was “close to his daughters.” The psychiatrist showed the judges chats where the former star’s family approved of the decision.

“Theoretically, continuing his rehabilitation in a medical center was a good choice, but [Maradona] didn’t want that,” Cosachov explained. “We discussed it openly and even considered doing it against his will, but the family refused because of previous bad experiences.”

She insisted that she requested a full team of multidisciplinary specialists and that the medical services provider had agreed to her conditions.

Tuesday’s testimonies end in medical clinic raid

On Tuesday, Prosecutor Patricio Ferrari ordered a raid on the Clínica Olivos, the medical center where Maradona was operated on in November 2020. 

The search request came after a contradiction between the testimonies of medical center director Pablo Dimitroff and Pablo Rufino, one of Maradona’s surgeons, regarding where the pre-surgical studies were performed.

Judiciary officers seized all the files related to Diego Maradona’s health dated between November 3 and 11, 2020. Over 270 pages of files were seized, as well as six laboratory studies and 547 e-mails related to the case.