In the medical malpractice suit filed by Maya Kowalski’s family for $220,000,000 in damages, attorneys representing Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital presented photos of Maya smiling at proms and homecomings as well as Halloween.
A Florida Hospital is being sued after a 17-year-old’s story was turned into the Netflix documentary Take Care of Maya. Her mother Beata committed suicide due to allegations of Munchausen Syndrome by proxy.
Gregory Anderson, speaking to Court TV on Friday, said that stress from the trial had exacerbated Maya’s symptoms. Maya suffers from neuropathy which is poorly understood.
Anderson claimed Maya had been unable to appear in court for several weeks due to a “flare-up”. JHAC lawyers presented photos on Tuesday of Maya in heels, dresses, and even a skimpy Halloween angel costume. They said the photos contradicted their claim.
The jury heard over six weeks from Maya’s Florida Hospital doctors, nurses, and experts.
JHAC called the hotline for child abuse after Beata, then a registered nurse at the hospital, told staff that Maya (10 years old) required dangerously high doses to treat severe pain.
The family of the girl told hospital staff that she was in a ketamine-induced coma. In the United States, this is illegal.
JHAC lawyer Ethen Schapiro told journalists that hospital intervention was what got Maya where she is today – attending court and homecoming, as well as leading a normal teenage life.
The whole world is watching. Shapiro stated in a video that this argument could make mandatory journalists feel threatened.
Maya and Maya’s family claim that Maya’s false imprisonment, medical negligence, and forced separation from her family amounts to reporting Beata as having Munchausen syndrome. The claimants also claim this caused emotional distress which led Beata in January 2017 to hang herself.
Maya Kowalski Treatments
Elliot Krane, professor of pain management and emeritus anesthesiologist at Stanford School of Medicine. He told the court Maya’s treatment was illegal and dangerous.
Howard Hunter, JHAC’s lawyer, said that during prior court hearings, JHAC felt Maya had been “given levels they hadn’t heard before and literature didn’t support”.
Hunter says that staff members called to say they were worried Maya’s mom was suffering from Munchausen-by-proxy and making her daughter ill.
The teenager said in court that ketamine had reduced her symptoms. Otherwise, she would have screamed in pain.
Maya’s Pictures
Shapiro said that Maya Kowalski is living this life at the moment. We did not aggravate her condition. She is going to prom with friends, and she is wearing heels. This is in direct contradiction to what she stated.
Even though Maya’s lawyers protested against the admission of certain photos taken from social networking sites, they were admitted as evidence.
The defense, before resting its case, played video depositions of Maya, Jack Kowalski, Maya’s father, and Scott Kowalski, Maya’s Uncle.
Maya stated in her deposition, that her symptoms had subsided. Claritin is used for allergies and she also takes sleeping pills. She enjoys swimming, running, and ice skating.
Jack stated that he had not seen any symptoms of alleged CRPS in his daughter.
Maya’s response argued that smiling photos of Maya from prom and other events were not proof that Maya no longer felt pain. Maya said that she often masked her symptoms.
She told the jury she cried to her father for an hour before taking this picture because her leg hurt so much. This was my mental and physical condition.
The teenager claimed she did not want to disappoint her boyfriend who bought tickets for the dance at which she was photographed.
She continued, “The defense found that my friend had posted the photo on her profile.”
Maya stated that her pain was between “seven to eight” on that particular day. The courtroom footage confirms this. Maya claimed that the jerkings began “after Johns Hopkins Children’s Hospital”.
In an audio recording that was made after the court on Tuesday, Shapiro stated that he felt “very confident” in his closing arguments.
JHAC previously stated that the hospital’s priority is “always the safety and privacy” of its “patients and their families.”
