Revisiting Kowalski Part One: The Turn
episodePreviously titled “Kowalski v Johns Hopkins All Children’s Part 1” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 6, 2026
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
true story media. Profiled in the Netflix documentary, Take Care of Maya. So the Kowalski family is suing of course Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital for $220 million. Maya's mother died by suicide after the hospital filed child abuse allegation. This documentary was so disturbing to watch. We now know that Maya's family is suing the hospital for over $200 million in damages. Sarasota doctor who first diagnosed Maya said her complex regional pain syndrome brings on excruciating pain as does the stress and patient complaints often fall on deaf ears. The hospital still owes the Kowalski family quite a large sum of money in his decision. The judge said the jury didn't go off the rails despite lowering that dollar amount.
I've been following the Maya Kowalski story since it first broke wide in 2022. That was after Diane Neary wrote her piece about it for New York Magazine. This story was presented as a kind of true crime fairy tale.
What events led to the Kowalski v Johns Hopkins All Children's case?
A beautiful young girl is struck down with a mysterious illness. Her devoted mother goes on a medical odyssey trying to help her, but then in a horrible twist, an evil group of doctors kidnap the young girl and the mother winds up dead. This is more or less the version that made it to the big screen, or the biggest of small screens, in Netflix's Take Care of Maya. I had a beautiful family, but then Maya started to get sick. Maya had advanced complex regional pain syndrome, and we know what the best therapy is for it. It's called ketamine. We were just blessed that we'd finally seen something working. But Maya relapsed. Beata's explaining to the emergency room, this is what needs to be done. You don't understand how much medication it takes to control her pain.
But they didn't listen. They accused Beata of medical child abuse. And that's when they told me I had to leave, that my daughter It's under state custody. And on the wings of this massive PR push, Jack Kowalski, the surviving parent, took the alleged kidnappers, Southwest Florida's Johns Hopkins All Children's, to court. And he won big time. We, the jury, return the following verdict. Claim one, false imprisonment, October 7th through October 15th, 2016, by Kowalski. One, did Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital falsely imprison Maya Kowalski without legal authority under circumstances that were unreasonable and unwarranted between October 7th and October 13th, 2016? Yes. What is the total amount that Kowalski damages
In the future, as the agency takes on the false imprisonment occurring between October 7th and October 13th, 2016. $2,496,000. I, along with many other trial watchers, was stunned by the size and the scope of this verdict. The jury found the hospital liable on all counts and awarded them $261 million in total, 41 million more than the Kowalskis sought out. Jack's children, Maya and her younger brother, Kyle, openly wept while the verdict was being read. They were both under 12 years old when their mom died, and their father's legal crusade had dominated what remained of their childhoods. And through the years of litigation that led up to this highly publicized trial, the kids had been asked to relive their worst moments in depositions and in the media for an audience.
You can see the toll this is all taking on them in the Netflix film Take Care of Maya, which ends with Judge Hunter Carroll, who ultimately presided over the civil trial, pushing their court date yet again. The cameras follow the Kowalskis into their Florida home as they react to the news, and Kyle's anguish is palpable. I pray every single night.
How did Maya's health issues begin in 2015?
Nothing, it doesn't help. In the US civil justice system, you can sue a wide variety of people and entities for a wide variety of things. But it's sort of a devil's bargain, because you're likely to find yourself exchanging months to years of your one precious life for an uncertain reward. And that's to say nothing of the legal costs. Watching Maya and Kyle sob hearing the verdict, I imagine they felt an immense sense of relief. $261 million is an unfathomable amount of money for a regular person.
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