- Netflix's "Take Care of Maya" follows the story of Maya Kowalski.
- On November 9, Maya Kowalski and her family were awarded over $200 million in damages.
A Florida civil court awarded Maya Kowalski and her family over $211 million in compensatory damages on Thursday after finding Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital (JHACH) liable on claims of malpractice, wrongful death, false imprisonment, battery, emotional distress, and fraudulent billing.
Maya Kowalski, 17, cried and clutched rosary beads as the verdict was read in the Sarasota County, Florida, court. Both her father Jack and her brother Kyle also broke down in tears throughout the nearly 20-minute reading.
The case gained nationwide attention after a documentary about the Kowalski's — "Take Care of Maya" — was released on Netflix in June. In October 2016, when the young girl was admitted to JHACH in pain, she had already received a rare diagnosis — the pain disorder called complex regional-pain syndrome (CRPS).
Hospital staff at the time thought her mother Beata' Kowalski's insistence that her daughter be treated with high doses of ketamine was odd, and eventually got a doctor to accuse her of child abuse.
Maya Kowalski was placed in the custody of the state of Florida and kept at JHACH against her will. Calls with her mother were monitored, and during the trial, she testified that she was pinned down and forced to take pictures in her underwear against her will.
Frustrated by the hospital staff's refusal to believe her daughter's diagnosis (although it had been confirmed by Maya Kowalski's personal doctors) and believing that the only way her daughter would be released from the hospital was if she were not a factor, Beata Kowalski died by suicide in January 2017 at the age of 43.
About a week after her mother's death, Maya Kowalski was released into her father Jack Kowalski's custody.
Jack Kowalski filed a lawsuit on behalf of himself, Maya Kowalski, and his son Kyle Kowalski in 2018. The lawsuit accused the hospital of false imprisonment, battery, medical negligence, fraudulent billing, infliction of emotional distress, and wrongful death.
Jury selection began in September 2023, and the trial lasted eight weeks.
According to the November 9 verdict, a jury found JHACH on all claims brought against them, awarding the Kowalski family over $211 million in damages.
The hospital was found liable for causing Beata Kowalski undo emotional distress in the months before her death and falsely imprisoning Maya Kowalski.
Maya Kowalski was awarded damages for being forced to take pictures in her underwear against her will without a court or her parents' permission.
The 17-year-old was also awarded damages for being put in a room with video surveillance against her will for 48 hours and being kissed, hugged, and forced to sit on the social worker's lap against her will.
The jury is also expected to decide on punitive damages, which could total additional millions against the hospital.
Howard Hunter, a lawyer representing JHACHS, told Insider in a statement that the hospital would appeal the ruling "based on clear and prejudicial errors throughout the trial and deliberate conduct by plaintiff's counsel that misled the jury."