SARASOTA, Fla. — A Sarasota County jury found Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital liable for all civil claims in the “Take Care of Maya” trial and preliminarily awarded the Kowalski family $211,451,174.
The hospital was found liable for the following civil claims:
- False imprisonment of Maya Kowalski
- Battery of Maya Kowalski
- Fraudulent billing of Jack Kowalski
- Inflicting emotional distress on Beata Kowalski
- Wrongful death claim for the estate of Beata Kowalski
- Intentionally inflicting emotional distress on Maya Kowalski
The civil trial involved allegations regarding Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in Pinellas County and the Kowalski family. Jack Kowalski, for himself and on behalf of his children, including Maya, and his late wife, Beata, sued the hospital.
According to court documents, in 2015, a doctor diagnosed Maya with “Complex Regional Pain Syndrome” and gave her ketamine infusion treatments.
The court records say in 2016, Maya was taken to All Children’s, where it says Beata explained Maya’s condition and that the family relayed what they said were “appropriate dosages of pain medications.”
Howard Hunter, who represented All Children’s, said this was a big dose and levels staff had never heard of.
“They put her in a safe environment, they attempted to get her stabilized, they called the correct consultations, and they tried to investigate what was going on. We will suggest to you, the evidence will suggest, and the experts will say that that was a perfectly reasonable thing to do,” said Hunter. “There’s no conspiracy here. It was an effort to safeguard this child and to see that she got appropriate therapy going forward, whatever that happened to be.”
Court documents said the hospital reported Beata to the DCF child abuse hotline and later said that the hospital notified the family that they would not be allowed to leave with Maya.
“There’s no evidence anywhere that Maya Kowalski was ever in any danger, Maya Kowalski ever suffered any negative effect whatsoever,” said Gregory Anderson, an attorney for the Kowalski family.
The nearly 100-page document stated that Beata suffered “multiple discernable physical injuries, up to and including her suicide, each caused by the psychological trauma inflicted by the Defendants’ abhorrent actions.”
“We had no reason to wish this family harm, and we still don’t. Indeed, there’s a tragic outcome in this case, in terms of Mrs. Kowalski’s suicide, and we regret very much that that happened,” said Hunter. “The issue here, however, is who’s responsible for it, and we’re going to go over the facts of that and what the facts don’t show in terms of any connection between what was done by All Children’s and that tragic result.”
Maya's story was turned into a Netflix documentary called "Take Care of Maya." It debuted on June 19, 2023.
Maya and her family spoke after the verdict was reached.
"For the first time, I feel like I got justice, and to a lot of people, that's unfortunately not something they can feel in this situation, and I'm just blessed that I could feel that for myself, for others and for my mom," said Maya.
A defense attorney for the hospital said the jury got it wrong and said the hospital followed Florida's mandatory reporting law in reporting suspected child abuse.
In a statement, Howard Hunter, defense counsel for Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, said the following:
“We thank the jury for their time and attention during this trial and intend to pursue an appeal based on clear and prejudicial errors throughout the trial and deliberate conduct by plaintiff’s counsel that misled the jury. The evidence clearly showed that Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital followed Florida’s mandatory reporting law in reporting suspected child abuse and, when those suspicions were confirmed by the district court, fully complied with Department of Children and Families (DCF) and court orders. We are determined to defend the vitally important obligation of mandatory reporters to report suspected child abuse and protect the smallest and most vulnerable among us. 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.”
