A 17-year-old and her family at the center of a medical kidnapping case showcased in a documentary on Netflix received a $261 million judgment from a Florida jury—but most of all they got vindication.
“Take Care of Maya” chronicles the story of Maya Kowalski and her parents, Jack and Beata Kowalski, as they navigated Maya’s rare illness, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS).
The story ended with the suicide death of the girl’s mother, Beata Kowalski, in January 2017 after the state accused her of Munchausen by Proxy and took custody of Maya. In this rare mental disorder, caregivers seek attention through made-up illnesses of children or others in their care.
The verdict, which included $50 million in punitive damages, ended a long, emotional journey for the family.
“They told Beata that she was crazy. And they told Maya that Beata was crazy on so many occasions,” said Greg Anderson, attorney for the Kowalski family.
The verdict served as vindication for Maya and was large enough to send a message to hospitals, he said.
“The important takeaway, though, was that this medical kidnapping has got to stop,” he said.
It also served as a victory for the hundreds who called, texted, and emailed his office during the Kowalski trial about instances of medical kidnapping and those suffering from CRPS, he said.
“For me, it was very difficult to hear these horror stories of people having their children taken away, of people who had this awful, most painful disease known to mankind, who were not being believed,” Mr. Anderson said.
The jury sided with the Kowalskis’ claim that Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg “imprisoned” Maya and violated the parents’ constitutional rights to make medical decisions for their child, an accusation denied by the hospital.
The jury also awarded attorney fees on top of the verdict, which are between $10 million and $15 million, Mr. Anderson said.
Hospital attorneys said they would appeal. They maintained the hospital did nothing wrong and followed mandatory reporting requirements concerning suspected child abuse.
The hospital’s appeal will be “based on clear and prejudicial errors throughout the trial and deliberate conduct by plaintiff’s counsel that misled the jury,” according to a statement from hospital attorney Howard Hunter emailed to The Epoch Times.
“The facts and the law remain on our side, and we will continue to defend the lifesaving and compassionate care provided to Maya Kowalski by the physicians, nurses, and staff of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital and the responsibility of all mandatory reporters in Florida to speak up if they suspect child abuse,” Mr. Hunter stated.
Continuing the case that has stretched over several years meant taking a financial risk, Mr. Anderson said.
He noted the Kowalski case included 52 summary judgments, an astronomical number that took substantial resources even for a successful law firm like Anderson Glenn in Florida, which he owns with his wife.
Mr. Anderson took the extraordinary step of selling his own home on the Intracoastal Waterway in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, to finance the case over the past two years.
“We’ve been very blessed; we have plenty of money, but the case was getting out-of-control expense because the defense counsel made it as expensive as they possibly could,” he said.
“Federal privacy laws restrict Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital from sharing more. Still, the hospital takes allegations of this nature very seriously and always puts the safety of their patients above all else.”
Mr. Anderson said he intends to file another civil lawsuit against the hospital based on Maya’s sexual assault allegation.
Maya, who was 10 at the time, said a man in his 30s walked into her room with a stethoscope around his neck and lab coat on. He asked her if he could “take a peek,” according to Mr. Anderson.
The man allegedly undid her drawstring pajamas, pulled them down along with her panties, and looked at her genitals, Mr. Anderson said.
A spokeswoman for the St. Petersburg Police Department told The Epoch Times the criminal case remains open.
The Kowalski story represents a parental rights nightmare that is occurring more frequently as doctors continue to specialize in child abuse pediatrics.
Hospitals can use the legal system to keep a child in a hospital, which some call medical kidnapping.
The Kowalski’s story began when their 9-year-old daughter was admitted to Johns Hopkins in July 2015 for an asthma attack, where she began to exhibit severe pain and weakness, according to the lawsuit.
She continued to suffer after her hospital visit.
Maya was eventually referred to Dr. Anthony Kirkpatrick, a leading expert in treating CRPS, who diagnosed her with the disorder in the fall of 2015.
CRPS is not well understood. The chronic neurological condition causes severe pain throughout the body due to damage or improper function of nerve fibers that carry pain messages to the brain and also triggers inflammation, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
The Kowalskis took their daughter to Mexico for specialized Ketamine infusion therapy upon the advice of CRPS specialists. Afterward, Maya continued to receive Ketamine infusions.
In October 2016, she was admitted to the ER at Johns Hopkins with a severe stomachache after Dr. Ashraf Hanna, a neurologist treating Maya for CRPS at the time, advised her father to take her to the hospital, according to the lawsuit.
Hospital doctors wanted the daughter to undergo treatments considered painful to a CRPS patient, including scans.
In Netflix’s documentary when Mrs. Kowalski insisted that doctors give her daughter Ketamine to manage her pain, the hospital’s staff allegedly grew suspicious and later contacted child protection services.
The lawsuit claims doctors at Johns Hopkins became “offended by the directions” given by the mother, a registered nurse, and father, a retired firefighter.
Hospital doctors confirmed the CRPS diagnosis with Dr. Hanna but disagreed with his recommendations, according to the lawsuit.
