The fight between a mother and the most coveted hospital reaches a verdict. Beata Kowalski gets justice but could never celebrate the victory with her family.
Out of the 130 million yearly visits to U.S. emergency rooms, a research by Healthcare Research and Quality found that 250,000 patients die as a result of misdiagnosis, while 370,000 have their conditions worsened as a result of neglect, leading to significant injury. In the United States, approximately 7.4 million patients receive incorrect diagnoses during emergency visits.
Does the hospital have greater control over a parent’s child than the parent does?
The heartbreaking story of a mother who was doing everything in her power to shield her daughter from being accused of child abuse against her own is told in the Netflix documentary “Take Care of Maya,” which has rocked the country.
On November 7, 2023, a Sarasota County jury found that Beata Kowalski, Maya’s mother, committed suicide in 2017 as a result of emotional hardship she experienced at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Kowalski family sued Johns Hopkins Hospital, claiming medical malpractice, false detention, abuse, inflicting emotional distress, and fraudulent billing in an attempt to get $211 million. The Kowalski family was also granted an extra $50 million in punitive damages by the jury.
What Did Beata Do to Maya? What Happened to Beata Kowalski in Maya?
A mother knows better….
Jack Kowalski, a retired deputy fire chief, was married to Beata Kowalski, a Polish immigrant who worked as a home care nurse. They resided in Venice, Florida, and had two children, Maya and Kyle.
While the children were playing over the July 4th weekend in 2015, Maya had a serious asthma attack. She was sent to St. Petersburg Hospital right away. Maya complained of burning in her limbs and full body aches, but the physicians were unable to determine her condition.
When the family brought her to Johns Hopkins Hospital, they encountered the same disheartening outcome. Because Maya did not exhibit any outward symptoms, the doctors were unable to ascertain why she was in such terrible pain.
Beata found Anthony Kirkpatrick, a different doctor who investigated complicated regional pain syndrome, through her study. This is a rare neurological disorder where even the smallest touch from the outside causes the brain to send a signal to the body indicating excruciating pain.
Beata demanded that Maya receive ketamine to put an end to her daughter’s misery when she was once more admitted to the Hopkins Hospital.
Her behaviour was deemed unusual by the hospital staff, who thought she had manufactured up a problem for her daughter. Another name for this is Munchausen Syndrome via Proxy. Child protective services was contacted by the hospital regarding Maya’s parents. At that point, the judge forbade the parents from seeing Maya and let the hospital to keep her in their care.
After 87 days of separation from her daughter, Beata couldn’t take it anymore and ended her life in January 2017 at just 43. She wrote an email before her death–
“I’m sorry, but I no longer can take the pain being away from Maya and being treated like a criminal. I cannot watch my daughter suffer in pain and keep getting worse.”
What Did Maya Have In Taking Care of Maya?
Syndrome of Complex Regional Pain (RPS):
Maya’s CRPS diagnosis was accurate after all, so Beata was telling the truth the whole time. CRPS is a disease of the nervous system. Few medical practitioners are aware of this illness because it has not been well researched.
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke states that “damage to or improper function of the small peripheral C-fiber nerve fibres that carry pain messages to the brain” may be the cause of chronic regional pain syndrome.
The trauma of the prior damage may set off CRPS, which frequently results in chronic pain, strokes, inflammations, etc.
Beginning at age nine, Maya had most of the symptoms, which included burning feelings, atrophy, rigidity in her muscles, and more. Maya’s feet were once turned inward, making walking challenging for her.
According to some specialists, CRPS is a psychosomatic illness as well.
CURE: CRPS currently has no known cure.
Nonetheless, physicians recommend Ketamine, a medication that prevents the neurons from misleadingly alerting the brain to pain.
Beata requested that her daughter receive 1500 mg of ketamine from the medical team after observing her in the worst possible state. The physicians believed Beata was abusing her own daughter by prescribing unnecessary medications.
However, it seems that Beata was correct all along.
Did Maya Win Against John Hopkins?
Beata was experiencing a great deal of mental distress due to the hospital’s incompetence. Moreover, the hospital accused her of having Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a disease in which a someone fabricates stories to elicit pity or attention for tending to a sick person.
Maya was kept apart from her family for 87 days by a judge who was persuaded to do so by Johns Hopkins Hospital, which also accused the parents of abandoning their own daughter.
Beata killed herself soon after.
Now, the Kowalski family has sued the hospital for–
- False imprisonment
- Battery
- Medical negligence
- Fraudulent billing
- Survivor claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress (Estate of Beata Kowalski)
- Wrongful death claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress causing death
- Maya Kowalski’s claim for infliction of emotional distress