Take Care of Maya family suing hospital for over $200 million

In a new update on the case, it’s been revealed that the family at the center of the Netflix documentary Take Care of Maya are suing a Florida hospital for over $200 million. 

Ever since Take Care of Maya dropped on Netflix earlier this month, viewers have been tuning in to find out more about the shocking case of Jack and Beata Kowalski’s daughter Maya, who suffered from extreme pain throughout her childhood and was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS).

The Kowalskis had managed to curb the pain with the help of an expert on the condition, Dr. Anthony Kirkpatrick, who administered ketamine treatments. However, in 2016, Maya – aged 10 years old at the time – relapsed and began experiencing extreme abdominal pain. 

When they arrived at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, what ensued was a truly tragic turn of events. And now the Kowalskis are taking action with the help of their family lawyer. Warning: Some may find this content distressing.

Take Care of Maya family suing hospital for more than $200 million

Speaking to the Daily Mail, law firm AndersonGlenn LLP revealed that it has issued a case on behalf of the Kowalski family, suing Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital for $220 million. The figure includes $55 million in compensatory and $165m in punitive damages, and a trial date has been set for September. 

This is due to the emotional toll the ordeal has had on Maya, now 17 years old, as well as her brother Kyle and father Jack. As is shown in the documentary, when Maya was rushed to the Florida A&E due to extreme pain in 2016, her mom Beata explained to medical staff that she had CRPS and ketamine was the only treatment that helped to alleviate the symptoms. 

But Beata was falsely diagnosed with Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a mental illness whereby the caretaker of a child either makes up fake symptoms or causes real ones to make it look like the infant is sick. And even though Maya was visibly suffering, Beata was accused of faking her daughter’s pain. 

Maya was taken into state custody and her parents were forced to leave the hospital. Even though the Munchausen diagnosis was proven to be wrong, a court order prevented Beata and Jack from seeing their daughter as she lay in hospital. 

After 87 days of not seeing her child, Beata tragically took her own life. Just five days later, Maya was released back into the care of her father. The impact this continues to have on the family is simply indescribable. 

AndersonGlenn LLP attorney Gregory Anderson told the Daily Mail: “The horrific events from the October 7, 2016 admission through Maya’s release on January 14, 2017 have been well-documented. These events amount to an abduction, incarceration and abuse of a 10 year old girl. Her parents were irreparably defamed and damaged. 

“Beata took her own life to free her daughter from ‘care’ by Johns Hopkins. The resulting litigation has been the worst I’ve seen. We were retained in the fall of 2017 and sent our first demand letters for information in December. We filed suit in 2018 – that was five years ago, five years of brutal litigation.

“The Kowalskis have incurred millions in legal fees and costs. Maya, Jack and Kyle will need medical care and therapy for the rest of their lives.”

We will keep you updated as and when new information rolls in about the trial, which is set for September 2023. 

To read more about Take Care of Maya and the case at the center of it, head here. And you can check out some of our other documentary coverage below: 

Who are the Duggars? | Victim/Suspect explained | Missing Dead or Alive explained | True story behind The Playing Card Killer | Where is Natalia Grace now? | HBO’s Burden of Proof explained | How to watch David Fuller: Monster in the Morgue