Psychiatrist's home, office searched to probe into Maradona's death

A court-ordered search was carried out Tuesday at the home and office of the psychiatrist who had been treating Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona before he passed away late last month, judicial sources told Efe.

A judge authorized those searches of the properties of Agustina Cosachov in Greater Buenos Aires as part of a probe into the causes of Maradona's death on Nov. 25, reported EFE-EPA.

Meanwhile, spokespersons for the prosecutor's office in the affluent Buenos Aires suburb of San Isidro, which is conducting the probe, told Efe they will provide more information in the coming days as warranted.

Cosachov's attorney, Vadim Mischanchuk, said in statements to the TN television news channel that the searches are "routine measures" in all cases of possible professional malpractice, where items such as cellphones and computers are gathered to reconstruct the patient's clinical history.

"My client is at peace with the medical decisions she made," the attorney said, adding that on Tuesday afternoon he will visit the prosecutor's office and name his expert witnesses.

Those searches came just two days after a similar action was ordered at the home and office of Maradona's personal physician, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, the target of a probe into potential negligence surrounding the death of Maradona, who passed away at the age of 60.

Luque went in person to the San Isidro prosecutor's office on Monday morning to obtain information about his legal situation, but no statement was taken because he has not been formally accused of wrongdoing.

Maradona, who early last month had received treatment at two health centers for anemia and dehydration and was subsequently diagnosed with a subdural hematoma (bleeding between the brain and skull) that required surgery, died of a heart attack at a home outside Buenos Aires last Wednesday.

The hero of Argentina's victory at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and co-recipient of the FIFA Player of the 20th Century award was discharged from Clinica Olivos in Buenos Aires province on Nov. 11 and then lived in a house at a private residential complex until his death.

Legal representatives of Maradona and his family told Efe that investigators are looking into the medical treatment he received between the time he underwent the subdural hematoma operation and his death and what drug regimen he should have been following.

The family's attorneys also want an investigation into the circumstances of Nov. 19, when according to a pair of witnesses Luque visited Maradona at his home and the two had an argument.

Those witnesses said Luque presumably did not return to the house again to provide in-person medical attention, in what could constitute "abandonment and neglect," the family's attorneys said.