Maya Kowalski's Family Was Awarded Over $261 Million In Lawsuit Against Johns Hopkins (2024)

Content warning: mention of suicide and suicidal ideation

Take Care of Maya, a Netflix documentary that premiered back in June 2023, tells the very true story of a young girl named Maya Kowalski. In October 2016, Maya, then age 10, was admitted to Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital for a flare up of complex regional pain syndrome symptoms (CRPS), which is a rare chronic condition that causes pain, often burning sensations, in the extremities.

At that time, Maya had been living with her condition for over a year, per The Cut. Her parents, Beata and John Kowalski, had taken their daughter to a CRPS specialist, Dr. Anthony Kirkpatrick, who suggested that ketamine, a strong general anaesthetic, was the best way to alleviate the pain Maya experienced from her condition. At one point, Maya's symptoms were so severe that she was even placed in an experimental "ketamine coma" that drastically, but temporarily, reduced her CRPS symptoms.

However, doctors at All Children's were unfamiliar with Maya's diagnosis, and grew suspicious of her parents' choice of ketamine treatments. The hospital consulted with Dr. Sally Smith, a doctor for Child Protective Services, who opened an abuse investigation and eventually misdiagnosed Maya, saying her symptoms were caused by Munchausen's Syndrome by proxy, a mental illness in which a person (in this case, Maya's mother) acts as if someone they’re caring for has a physical or mental illness when they don’t.

Maya was subsequently separated from her parents for over 90 days, only allowed to see her father under strict supervision. She was not allowed to see her mother at all. The events eventually led Beata Kowalski to take her own life in January 2017.

Years after the predicament, the Kowalski family filed a lawsuit against Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, and it went to trial in September 2023. The hospital was found liable of seven claims, and the Kowalski family was awarded over $261 million at the end of the lawsuit, Fox 13 Tampa Bay reported.

Here is everything to know about Maya Kowalski, her diagnosis with complex regional pain syndrome, the family's lawsuits and trial, and where she is now.

The Kowalski family was awarded over $261 million in a lawsuit against Johns Hopkins.

The Kowalski family ended up suing Maya's hospital for the events that led to Beata Kowalski taking her own life. The trial date for their lawsuit against Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital began about eight weeks ago in September 2023. On Nov. 9, 2023, a settlement was finally reached, and the hospital was found liable on seven claims, per Fox 13 Tampa Bay, including:

• 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

The jury deliberated for two days, Fox 13 reported, and ultimately found the hospital liable. The Kowalski family will receive $211, 451, 174 from the claims alone. The jury also decided that the family will receive an additional $50,000,000 for punitive damages from false imprisonment, and false imprisonment with battery.

The family previously settled with Dr. Sally Smith, who misdiagnosed Maya with having symptoms caused by Munchausen's by proxy and instigated Maya's separation from her parents, for $2.5 million.

Based on the documentary footage, Maya has given several depositions regarding her cases against Dr. Sally Smith, All Children's, and her social worker, Cathi Bedy. At the end of the trial, Maya was "adamant" that the decision carried far more weight than its financial payout.

"To me, it was about the answer—knowing that my mom was right. I want people to know that she wasn’t harming me at all," Maya told Fox 13. "I mean, for the first time, I feel like I got justice."

The hospital is reportedly attempting to appeal the verdict, per Fox 13.

What was Maya diagnosed with?

Prior to her All Children's visit, Maya was formally diagnosed with CRPS, or chronic regional pain syndrome, by Dr. Anthony Kirkpatrick. Her symptoms began after a respiratory infection, which is common for CRPS. The condition can also stem from dramatic bone fractures, per Mayo Clinic. Maya's parents initially took her to All Children's when her pain surfaced in 2015, but the doctors were unable to diagnose the illness, according to The Cut.

CRPS is an extremely difficult disease to understand and diagnose. A study by the National Library of Medicine found that people suffering from CRPS are more susceptible to suicide ideation due to the extreme pain associated with the disease.

Jack Kowalski later took Maya to see another specialist, who re-confirmed her CRPS diagnosis.

What happened to Maya's mom, Beata?

In January 2017, 87 days into her separation from Maya, Beata died by suicide. She wrote a final email to her family saying her pain was too difficult to bear, according to the documentary.

After Beata's death, Maya was released into her father's care.

Maya's mother, Beata, was described by people as intense, but Maya described her mother as "powerful," per The Cut. "She was always the type of person to try and make me feel better….she went the extra mile to make people smile," the teenager also told PEOPLE.

Maya, who was only 10 years old at the time this all went down, views her All Children's stay as a medical kidnapping, and, according to the documentary, she was never given a straightforward answer as to why she couldn't see her mother. “One day I was in the ICU, and my mom kissed me on the forehead and was like, ‘I love you. I’ll see you tomorrow.’ I never saw her again," Maya told PEOPLE.

In the final note Beata wrote before her death, she reiterated that she couldn't bear being helpless while Maya was in pain. Authorities asked Jack Kowalski whether he thought his wife gave indication of suicidal ideation. "No," he said in a recording featured in the documentary. "But my daughter has an illness, and it's all started from that. Just the disease alone was horrible."

Where is Maya now?

Maya is now 17 and currently lives with her brother, Kyle, and father, Jack, in Venice, Florida. Court orders forbid the Kowalski family from seeking ketamine treatments, so Maya's recovery was "slow and more painful than it needed to be," per PEOPLE. More than a year after being released from All Children's, she regained use of her legs, but Maya is still living with CRPS.

Maya has reportedly avoided as many medical treatments as possible since her family filed the lawsuit, as her medical records can be subpoenaed by the hospital's legal team, per The Cut.

During the trial, the defense also presented photos of Maya at homecoming and celebrating Halloween, allegedly taken at a time when Maya's CRPS symptoms had flared up again, and she missed court.

A member of the Kowalski family's legal representation, Jennifer Anderson, refuted the claim to The Cut, saying Maya has been unable to act like a teenager throughout the trial. “She can never smile for a photo? As if that somehow proves what—that her mom abused her? It doesn’t make any sense.”

To learn more about Maya's story, you can stream Take Care of Maya on Netflix now.