Newly revealed writings from Maya Kowalski’s mother indicate she suffered from Proxy Munchausen Syndrome and was endangering her daughter’s life, attorneys argued this week.
In a draft of a 2015 blog post that Beata Kowalski composed in her daughter’s voice, she wrote that her ketamine-induced coma could result in “total body failure/death.”
Elsewhere, still writing from Maya’s perspective, she wrote that “if I were a horse, I would be in a coma or dead by now.”
“My mom watched me all day and continued to check on me even at night to make sure I was okay,” the mother wrote about herself in the draft email.
Maya Kowalski, then 10 years old, was admitted to Johns Hopkins Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg for treatment for severe pain the following year.
Beata Kowalski told doctors that her daughter suffered from a rare condition called complex regional pain syndrome and that powerful ketamine treatments she received in Mexico, including induced comas, had eased her suffering.
Beata Kowalski committed suicide in 2017. Courtesy of Netflix
Distrustful of her demands and skeptical of Maya’s condition, doctors believed Beata suffered from Proxy Munchausen Syndrome, where caregivers fabricate a child’s ailments to get their attention.
They eventually contacted Florida child welfare authorities, made Maya a ward of the state, and prohibited her mother from seeing her.
After three months of separation and facing accusations of child abuse, Beata Kowalski hanged herself in the garage of her family home in January 2017.
Beata Kowalski wanted ketamine treatments to treat Maya’s pain. Courtesy of Netflix
Claiming that the hospital acted recklessly by isolating Maya and downplaying her illness, her family is now suing the facility for $220 million.
His father, Jack Kowalski, alleges false imprisonment, medical negligence and infliction of emotional distress.
Maya Kowalski, who testified in the ongoing trial that she still suffers from her condition, said doctors at the hospital ignored her complaints of pain.
The case eventually became the subject of the Netflix documentary “Take Care of Maya” that premiered earlier this year.
Maya Kowalski testified at trial that staff ignored her complaints of pain. THOMAS BENDER/HERALD-TRIBUNE Pool photo/Thomas Bender/Sarasota Herald-Tribune Pool Photo/Thomas Bender / USA TODAY NETWORK
In other lengthy emails Beata wrote in her daughter’s voice, she described the rarity of her condition and the debilitating side effects of ketamine treatments, including a distended stomach, waking up every 30 minutes at night, elevated temperatures and discomfort from a feeding tube.
“Thank God my mom was there and helped me right away,” Beata wrote.
Despite those discomforts, Beata wrote that ketamine was the only path to a normal life and that Maya was prepared to tolerate the side effects.
“Ketamine gives me magical powers and I acted like a super girl,” Beata wrote in her daughter’s voice.
At trial, Kowalski testified that the separation from his mother was deeply traumatic, especially at his young age.
The Kowalskis sue for $220 million.Netflix
She has insisted that her condition was and is real, and that fighting doubt has only made the condition worse.
A doctor who prescribed previous ketamine treatments to Maya previously testified that the approach was medically sound and relieved her pain.
But testifying for the defense this week, Dr. Elliott Krane, professor emeritus of anesthesiology and chief of Pain Management at Stanford School of Medicine, told jurors that the regimen was dangerous and not practiced in the United States.
The trial is ongoing.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn