Maya Kowalski and her family have won their malpractice case against a hospital in a lawsuit however, during the closing arguments, Maya stormed out of the courtroom.
The Kowalski family had been suing Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida for $220 million and were awarded this sum after a jury reached a verdict on November 9.
Maya Kowalski had been diagnosed with a rare medical condition called complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) when she was 10 years old, in 2016.
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She had received some treatment previously in Mexico but was later admitted to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital (JHAC) for the neurological condition as she said she was experiencing severe pain.
When admitted to the hospital, medical staff concluded that her symptoms were not real and her parents were accused of medical abuse. Maya’s mother Beata Kowalski took her own life in January 2017 after 87 days of being restricted from seeing her daughter.
Their lawsuit accused the hospital of wrongfully committing Maya and said they should not have seperated her from her mother.
The Netflix documentary, Take Care of Maya, went into the great depths of how CRPS affliction is poorly understood. During the trial, the question of how severely Maya suffered from her affliction was hotly debated.
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On Thursday, the hospital was found liable on multiple claims, including the wrongful death of Beata, false imprisonment, battery, and inflicting emotional distress on Maya and her mother.
During the trial, the hospitals attorney Ethen Shapiro suggested that Maya had exaggerated her symptoms and highlighted some early conclusions made by doctors.
During which Maya is seen getting up and leaving the courtroom.
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“We heard from the emergency department physician Dr. Pittsenbarger that upon his first visit with Maya in the emergency department, she was able to show good upper and lower extremity strength by kicking with both legs,” Shapiro said.
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“Now his diagnosis is fitting of that [of another doctor]. That the behaviors were a concern for a psychiatric component, possible conversion disorder.
“Again, this is not a question of somebody saying that Maya is faking it, this is real. But it calls for a different treatment pattern.
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The hospital is expected to appeal the verdict and the attorneys for the hospital have accused the court of ‘clear and prejudicial errors’.
If you have been affected by the affected by the issues in this article, you can call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. The Lifeline provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, across the United States. Call or text 988 to connect with a trained crisis counselor. Support is also available via live chat at 988lifeline.org
Gerrard Kaonga