The woman at the center of a haunting medical abuse case that culminated in her mother’s suicide and featured in a Netflix documentary tearfully took the stand in a Florida courtroom this week.
Then 10 years old and in excruciating pain, Maya Kowalski was admitted to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg in 2016 for treatment.
After a week’s stay, the doctor concluded that the symptoms were not real — and his mother predicted the disease was caused by Munchausen syndrome by proxy.
The disorder causes caregivers to fake the child’s condition to gain concern and sympathy from others, as in the case of Gypsy Rose Blanchard.
Hospital staff notified Florida child welfare, which then prevented the mother from visiting her daughter.
“He said, ‘I love you and I’ll see you tomorrow,’ and I never saw him again,” Maya, now 17, said in court this week, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Maya Kowalski is at the center of a medical abuse case featured in the Netflix documentary.Netflix
The case ended up being the subject of the Netflix documentary “Take Care of Maya,” which was released earlier this year.
Three months after being banned from seeing her son, her mother, Beata Kowalski, hanged herself in the garage of her family home in January 2017.
Kowalski and his family are now suing the hospital for $220 million, claiming its actions led to his mother’s suicide.
The suit asserts Maya does indeed suffer from a legitimate illness known as complex regional pain syndrome, a rare neurological condition.
Symptoms include sporadic episodes of severe pain in the limbs along with skin lesions.
Maya Kowalski was hospitalized for three months before her mother committed suicide. Courtesy of Netflix
The condition also triggered a nerve reaction that caused Maya’s legs to twist inward during flareups, according to her family.
Beata Kowalski, a registered nurse, advised the hospital of her daughter’s condition and demanded that she be given a dose of ketamine to ease her symptoms.
A previous doctor had prescribed the controlled drug, and Maya’s mother said it had eased her symptoms.
But skeptical hospital staff were wary of the request, arguing the approach was inconsistent with conventional medical practice.
As a result, a judge ordered Maya into state protective custody, keeping her away from her distraught mother for nearly three months while the alleged abuse was investigated.
Beata Kowalski committed suicide in January 2017. Courtesy of Netflix
After 87 days of separation and facing allegations of child abuse, Beata Kowalski took her own life.
Unaware of the suicide, Maya testified this week that she woke up around 2 a.m. the next morning.
“I cried ‘I miss my mother, I love my mother,'” she said. “I have that feeling. I felt it.”
Lawyers for the hospital have countered that their child abuse fears have been upheld in previous court rulings.
“This court has ruled that Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital reported suspected child abuse Maya Kowalski in good faith,” the Sept. 12 request for a special jury instruction states, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
“Neither Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital nor Catherine Bedy could be found legally responsible for making the report.”
The Kowalski family is suing Maya Hospital for $220 million. Courtesy of Netflix
Maya’s father, Jack Kowalski, filed a $220 million lawsuit in 2018 accusing the hospital of wrongfully separating Maya from her mother.
She claims false imprisonment, medical malpractice and infliction of emotional distress.
Maya Kowalski — who said she still has the condition — said doctors at the St. Petersburg largely ignored his complaints of illness.
At one point on the stand, he said he was given $20 for his 11th birthday while still in the hospital and bought his mother a necklace.
She later found out that she was wearing the jewelry when she killed herself.
Through sobs, Kowalski revealed she also wore them during her testimony – drawing tears from several jurors.
The case is ongoing.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
