A Florida jury on Thursday added $50 million in damages in a landmark medical malpractice case, bringing the center’s total fine to more than $250 million.
The panel found Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg liable for all charges against it, ruling that the facility wrongfully separated Maya Kowalski from her mother, who later took her own life.
In total, the renowned medical center now faces $261 million in damages in a case featured in the popular Netflix documentary “Take Care of Maya.”
The jury awarded money to the Kowalski family for a variety of crimes, including improperly placing the girl under video surveillance for 48 consecutive hours and forcing her to strip down to shorts and a training bra for a photograph.
They found that a hospital staff member also committed misconduct by sometimes kissing the then-10-year-old girl and making her sit on his lap.
Kowalski was admitted to the hospital in October 2016 by her mother for treatment of a painful neurological condition known as chronic regional pain syndrome.
Beata Kowalski demanded that her daughter receive aggressive ketamine treatment, an approach she said had previously alleviated her symptoms.
Maya Kowalski sobbed as the verdict was read.Law&Crime Network
Maya’s mother said she was put into a coma with ketamine in Mexico, an unconventional treatment that had improved her condition.
But doctors were suspicious of the mother’s claims and ultimately concluded that she suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, in which a parent fabricates or exaggerates a child’s symptoms to gain sympathy and attention.
Kowalski testified at trial that hospital staff dismissed his condition as largely imaginary and often mocked his complaints of pain.
Maya’s mother, Beata Kowalski, committed suicide after being banned from seeing her daughter. Courtesy of Netflix
The center contacted Florida child welfare authorities to report suspected child abuse. After an investigation, a judge placed Maya on a state medical ward, isolating her from her family.
Distraught over compensation and facing accusations of child abuse, Beata Kowalski hanged herself in the garage of her family home three months later.
Maya grabbed Beata’s rosary and cried uncontrollably when the jury’s decision was announced in court Thursday.
The sobs intensified when the court clerk read part of the verdict finding the hospital responsible for her mother’s death.
In a separate deliberation, the jury added $50 million in punitive damages, which are imposed to punish wrongdoing and deter similar actions.
The Kowalski family. Courtesy of Netflix.
“It was about the answer, about knowing that my mom was right,” he said after the process. “For the first time I feel that justice has been done to me.”
The panel of four women and two men reached their verdict on the third day of deliberations in Sarasota County.
Lawyers for the hospital had claimed at trial that staff reported Beata to authorities out of good faith concern for Maya’s well-being and safety.
Maya Kowalski and her attorney Nick Whitney after the verdict. POOL PHOTO/Mike Lang/Sarasota Herald-Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK
They believed their mother was aggressively insisting on a risky treatment regimen.
The defense team produced drafts of emails she wrote in her daughter’s voice for a blog.
The writings recounted her previous ketamine treatments, and Beata wrote that the infusions could lead to “total body failure or death.”
Kowalski appeared in the Netflix documentary “Take Care of Maya.” THOMAS BENDER/HERALD-TRIBUNE Pool Photo/Thomas Bender/Sarasota Herald-Tribune Pool Photo/Thomas Bender / USA TODAY NETWORK
Both sides presented dueling experts on the condition and treatments, some claiming that ketamine exposure was effective, while others said the approach is not FDA-approved for a reason.
In closing statements this week, attorneys for the Kowalski family said the hospital acted out of “arrogance” and disregard for Beata’s divergence from her own medical experience.
The facility, they argued, thought they could “get away with it.”
Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital was found liable for $261 million.ZUMAPRESS.com
A lawyer for the hospital, Howard Hunter, said they would appeal the ruling and that the trial was marred by “clear and prejudicial errors.”
“We are determined to uphold the vitally important obligation of mandated reporters to report suspected child abuse and protect the smallest and most vulnerable among us,” she said in a statement.
Categories: Trending
Source: vtt.edu.vn