Maya Kowalski’s lawyers today slammed the “dysfunctional” children’s hospital where her family said she was “imprisoned” as a child while suffering from chronic pain.
The teen’s family is suing Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, claiming child abuse allegations against Maya’s mother, Beata, led to her taking her own life in 2017.
Maya, 17, was just 10 years old when she was removed by the state after doctors at the hospital accused her parents Jack and Beata of faking symptoms of her rare pain disorder.
During her three-month hospital stay, Beata was forbidden from seeing her. The affected mother fell into depression and ultimately took her own life. The tragedy was detailed in the Netflix documentary Taking Care of Maya.
Attorneys for both sides presented their closing arguments Tuesday in the blockbuster $220 million lawsuit. The six-person jury is now deliberating.
The Kowalski family says the hospital took Maya away for medical reasons and pointed to examples of assault including “removing” a sports bra and shorts to take photos of lesions and “hugging, kissing and holding” her without them Permission from their parents while in their care.
Netflix teen Maya Kowalski’s legal counsel criticized Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital (JHACH) in her closing statement, calling the facility “dysfunctional” and seeking to “punish” the family for the discrepancy with her medical treatment
Greg Anderson, the family’s attorney, responded vehemently, accusing JHACH of having no control over Maya’s treatment while in her care.
“This is Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, it really is,” Anderson said in court.
“It’s a company that retaliates against its own employees when they bring things to light that are negative and retaliates against anyone, any parent, who decides to do something different.”
“This case is about an organization that is so screwed up that they actually think it’s a good idea to force parents to accept their ways, and if the parents won’t, they have to find other ways to accept them punish.”
Anderson claimed that there had to be a “captain of the ship,” “and there never was.”
“The way this hospital operated was completely dysfunctional,” he said.
“No one looked, no one paid attention to how this child was being cared for, no one paid attention to how their own staff behaved, and it wasn’t just one thing.”
Ethen Shapiro, an attorney for the hospital, tore apart the seven allegations against the medical facility and urged the jury to listen to the facts and not make a verdict based on compassion.
“The most unfortunate thing about this case is the headline: Kowalskis against all children, we were never against the Kowalski family,” Shapiro said.
“The reason All Children’s did what it did, the reason All Children’s tried to comfort Maya, the reason All Children’s tried to put her on a safe medical path is because of the loving and caring My client’s providers and hospital believed in a better future for her.
“If they could rid her of the unnecessary medications that are being administered to her in dangerous quantities.” Period. End of the story.
Shapiro stressed to jurors that if there was any reason to pay punitive damages to the Kowalski family, it would be, but he vehemently denied the allegations against his client.
“There is nothing outrageous that the hospital has ever done, there is no reason to consider punitive damages, your work can end with your considerations.”
“What we need in this courtroom is closure for everyone.”
Greg Anderson, the family’s attorney, fired back vehemently, accusing JHACH of being “dysfunctional” and claiming there was no oversight of Maya’s treatment while in their care
Ethen Shapiro, an attorney for the hospital, tore apart the seven allegations against the medical facility and urged the jury to listen to the facts and not make a verdict based on compassion
Maya did not attend the hearing during her bombshell trial because her lawyers said she was too ill. Lawyers submitted photographic evidence showing them celebrating Halloween (pictured)
Maya, who was sitting in the back of a limousine, also attended her homecoming. Defense attorneys said it was evidence she was capable of living the life of a normal teenager
These photos were brought up again in the defense’s closing argument
According to the Pinellas County complaint, Beata died by suicide due to the unrest caused at the hospital.
“The defendants have imprisoned Maya [Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg] without legal justification,” the lawsuit says.
Throughout the trial, the hospital has vehemently denied these allegations and reiterated this defense in its closing statements.
“The evidence we were able to present in our defense case showed that Maya came to us in terrible condition with a variety of dangerous and unnecessary medications,” Shapiro, the hospital’s attorney, said during the trial.
“We were able to wean her off those drugs and get her to a place where she can be like you see her today: going in and out of court, going to homecoming and living a more normal teenage life.”
Greg Anderson, the family’s lawyer, rejected the defense’s account that Maya was doing much better.
“There’s a baseline level of pain, but when you’re in that much pain at different times, it’s actually not as noticeable as a normal person,” Anderson said.
“You develop a high tolerance for it. CRPS patients always have a little bit of pain, but it comes and goes, and that’s one of the most elusive and frankly frustrating things about the disease.”
Anderson argued that the defense cherry-picked excerpts from Maya’s five statements to portray Maya’s post-hospitalization life as “normal.”
He pointed out that Maya “nearly died after a relapse” and she was taken to Arnold Palmer’s Children’s Hospital in Orlando, where she was given a feeding tube due to significant weight loss.
For eight weeks, jurors heard from the Kowalskis, doctors, nurses and experts in the $220 million lawsuit that was the focus of the harrowing Netflix documentary “Take Care of Maya.”
The now 17-year-old was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) at age 9, but was hospitalized in October 2016 at age 10 with severe pain
Maya’s mother Beata (right) took her own life after she was diagnosed with depression and an adjustment disorder after being separated from Maya for almost three months
“The fact that they stood up for their right to treat their own child with the best knowledge possible, with all the information possible, and that they made the right decisions,” Anderson said.
“So the things that happened to them at Johns Hopkins are incredible, absolutely incredible, but we have proven them time and time again.”
Maya was released from her parents’ care after hospital staff became suspicious of the dosage of ketamine her mother was desperate to give her for the excruciating chronic pain.
The Florida Department of Children and Families and a state judge confirmed hospital staff’s suspicions of “medical child abuse” and placed Maya under the care of the Florida Department of Children and Families. She was housed at the center.
AndersonGlenn LLP, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Kowalski family, confirmed that the family is seeking $55 million in compensatory damages and $165 million in punitive damages.
The hospital’s defense focused on staff as mandatory reporters, who are required by state law to call the abuse hotline if they have “reasonable cause.”
Shapiro previously explained that the decision to remove Maya was made by the child welfare system, not the medical facility.
The Kowalski family files a $220 million lawsuit against Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, where Maya Kowalski (left) was held as a child after staff suspected she was a victim of “medical child abuse.” become.
The hospital released a statement to saying, “Our priority at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital is always the safety and privacy of our patients and their families.”
“As a result, we follow strict federal privacy laws that limit the amount of information we can release about any given case.”
“Our first responsibility is always to the child placed in our care.” Our employees are required by law to notify the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) if they suspect abuse or neglect.
“It is DCF and a judge – not Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital – who will investigate the situation and make the final decision on what course of action is in the best interest of the child.”
“We are committed to preventing any chilling effect on reporting suspected child abuse to protect the most vulnerable among us.”
Judge Hunter Carroll dismissed the jury for deliberations.