A jury in Florida has found a children’s hospital liable in a lawsuit brought by the family featured in the Netflix documentary, “Take Care of Maya.”
Maya Kowalski, 17, and her family sued Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital alleging false imprisonment, battery, medical negligence, fraudulent billing, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and wrongful death. A jury determined Thursday that the hospital is liable for Maya’s mother, Beata, committing suicide due to the hospital’s report, Fox 13 reported.
The trial relates to the actions of Johns Hopkins in 2016 when staff reported Maya’s parents to children’s services. They believed Maya’s mother, Beata, was suffering from Munchausen by proxy and exaggerated her daughter’s illness to get attention from healthcare workers. Beata committed suicide and, shortly after, Maya was released from the hospital and allowed to return home to her family. The family sued on seven claims, and Johns Hopkins was found liable for falsely imprisoning Maya, fraudulently billing her family, and causing them emotional distress. The jury further found that social worker Catherine Bedy had battered Maya and that Dr. Sally Smith medically neglected the girl, who was 10 when she was admitted to Johns Hopkins, Fox News reported.
After finding the hospital liable, the jury determined it owed the Kowalski family $211 million in damages, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Howard Hunter, who represented the hospital at the trial, released a statement saying the hospital plans to appeal the jury’s decision.
“We thank the jury for their time and attention during this trial and intend to pursue an appeal based on clear and prejudicial errors throughout the trial and deliberate conduct by plaintiff’s counsel that misled the jury,” the statement said. “The evidence clearly showed that Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital followed Florida’s mandatory reporting law in reporting suspected child abuse and, when those suspicions were confirmed by the district court, fully complied with Department of Children and Families (DCF) and court orders.”
Maya was just nine years old when she started having asthma attacks and headaches. Her symptoms soon evolved to include lesions on her arms and legs, and cramping in her feet, which began to curl so she couldn’t walk without assistance. Her parents, Jack and Beata, took her to doctors to find out what was wrong with their daughter, with at least one physician thinking the girl’s condition was all in her head.
“But Maya would be crying 24/7,” Jack, 61, told People Magazine in June. “We knew she wasn’t faking.”
Finally, the Kowalskis found Dr. Anthony Kirkpatrick, who evaluated Maya and diagnosed her with a rare disorder known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, an impairment of the nervous system that increases pain sensations – meaning even the slightest stimulus could cause severe pain to Maya. Kirkpatrick treated Maya and found that the only thing that worked for her condition was monthly infusions of the powerful anesthetic ketamine, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported back in 2019.
There are critics of the diagnosis and treatment since doctors don’t know what causes CRPS or exactly how to treat it, but the ketamine injections allowed Maya to return to life as an ordinary young girl.
All Children’s Hospital contends that it acted in Maya’s best interest by weaning her off medications and following the orders it received from the Department of Children and Families (DCF) after reporting suspected child abuse.
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DCF required the hospital to keep Maya separated from her mother for 87 days.
Maya’s father, Jack, testified earlier this month that he and his family were told they would be arrested if they removed Maya from the hospital, Fox 13 reported.
Beata, a registered nurse who escaped communist-era Poland, eventually committed suicide, believing that doing so would lead the court to return Maya to her family’s custody.
Just days after Beata took her own life, the case against the Kowalskis was dropped and Maya was allowed to leave the hospital – after keeping her for three months under a court-ordered separation that only allowed Beata to speak to Maya on the phone with someone listening in. Their devastating phone calls can be heard in the Netflix documentary.
If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.
