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Ready for rehab Doctors say Maradona should seek drug treatment
Posted: Tuesday January 11, 2000 06:55 PM
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- Doctors treating Diego Maradona recommended Tuesday that Argentina's retired soccer captain seek drug rehabilitation following his emergency hospitalization last week in Uruguay. Ramon Leiguarda, director of the Fleni Clinic where Maradona is undergoing treatment for heart-related problems, said doctors are considering several rehab programs outside Argentina. He said those included sites in Canada and the United States. Ideally, Maradona would go directly into rehabilitation following his treatment at the heart specialist clinic in Buenos Aires, Leiguarda said. "He is aware of the need to seek definitive treatment of his problem," he added. Maradona, 39, was admitted to intensive care in an Uruguayan hospital last Tuesday with high blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat. Authorities opened a police investigation a day later, after drug and urine samples taken from Maradona revealed traces of cocaine. He returned Sunday to Buenos Aires for further treatment of what doctors described as "a severe heart condition." On Tuesday, Leiguarda reported the patient was improving. He said Maradona was on his feet for the first time since he had been hospitalized and could be released i the next 48 or 72 hours. One of the star's personal physicians, Carlos Alavrez, suggested Maradona travel without his usual entourage that includes manager Guillermo Coppola, should he agree to admit himself into a drug rehab program. "I would prefer that Maradona be surrounded by members of his immediate family," he said. "This treatment has to be absolutely serious." Meanwhile, Coppola returned to Argentina one day after being charged with giving false testimony to authorities investigating whether Maradona bought the cocaine in Uruguay. Coppola was allowed to return to Argentina after posting US$15,000 bail. Uruguayan police on Thursday asked Interpol for help in locating CarlosFerro Viera, an Argentine publicist suspected of supplying drugs to Maradona while on vacation in Punta del Este, Uruguay. Drug use is not illegal in Uruguay, so Maradona was never indicted by police. Trafficking in drugs, however, is illegal. An admitted cocaine addict, Maradona was suspended from the Italian League in 1991 for 15 months following a positive test for cocaine use. FIFA suspended him in 1994 for 15 months following a second positive test, for stimulants during the World Cup.
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