Take Care of Maya family wins $261 million in landmark case

Maya Kowalski and her family, who were at the center of the Netflix documentary Take Care of Maya, have been awarded $261 million in damages in a landmark decision.

Take Care of Maya, directed by Henry Roosevelt, arrived on Netflix in June, telling the heartbreaking true story of the now-17-year-old Maya Kowalski and her family. When she was 10, she suffered from extreme stomach pain – but when her parents took her to the emergency room at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in Florida, what followed was a series of events that ended in the most heartbreaking outcome. 

The investigative documentary explores how Maya was kept away from her parents Beata and Jack Kowalski after the hospital acquired a state order to keep her in custody. As they fought to get their daughter back, Maya’s mother died by suicide. 

Following the release of Take Care of Maya, the surviving Kowalskis brought their lawsuit against both the hospital and the Department of Children and Families to court, seeking more than $200 million in damages – and yesterday, November 9, a verdict was made. 

Take Care of Maya family wins $261 million in landmark case

Jurors found Johns Hopkins liable on all counts, including false imprisonment, battery, and intentionally inflicting emotional distress on both Maya and Beata. The Kowalskis have been awarded $211 million in damages, according to Tampa Bay Times. A further $50 million in punitive damages was given on Thursday evening, bringing the total to $261 million. 

Following the 2016 incident, Maya had been kept in the hospital for three months, during which time Beata took her own life. The jury sided with the family, ruling that Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital wrongfully kept Maya from her family and engaged in “extreme and outrageous” conduct, ultimately resulting in Beata’s death. 

The hospital’s defense argued that it had been skeptical about Maya’s complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) diagnosis, which saw Beata – a registered nurse – requesting ketamine treatments to relieve her daughter of pain. 

The state’s Department of Children and Families sided with doctors on the suspicion that Beata was suffering from 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. Even though a court-ordered evaluation ruled that Beata didn’t have Munchausen’s, Maya was placed under state custody.

Following the jury’s initial verdict yesterday, Maya and her father and brother Jack and Kyle were seen sobbing and holding each other and their legal team, who joined them on their five-year battle to bring the case to court. As per TBT, Maya said: “It was about the answer, knowing that my mom was right. For the first time, I feel like I got justice.”

The hospital plans to appeal the decision, according to defense attorney Howard Hunter, who said in a statement: “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.”

You can read more about Take Care of Maya here, which is available to watch on Netflix now. And for more documentaries coverage, hit the links below:

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