‘Take Care of Maya’ - Kowalski v. Johns Hopkins Trial

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DAILY TRIAL UPDATES

DAY 16: 10/17/23

  • The plaintiff rested its case-in-chief Monday afternoon.
  • Jurors heard from the defense’s first witness – Dr. James Lewis, a neuropsychologist, via videotaped deposition. On Tuesday, they plan to call DFC’s Charlotte LaPorte and Julie Mikulicic. Also, Tori Niehus with the Safe Children Coalition.
DAY 15: 10/16/23


www.courttv.com

Kowalski v. Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital: 'Take Care of Maya' Trial

The defense presentation continues in Florida as a family fights a hospital whose actions, they say, led to a mother's suicide.
www.courttv.com www.courttv.com

Posted at 8:38 AM, October 16, 2023
 
I think the hospital acted in Maya’s best interests at first, there was enough cause for concern to suspect MBP, and in the years since Maya’s condition appears to have drastically improved. Maya was a young child and her recollection could well have been influenced by hearing her family discussing the hospital and their experience. There are a lot of things that leave me uncomfortable here and to any medical professional confronted by a parent demanding that their child gets Ketamine is cause for concern IMO. There

There’s lots more I want to say especially about MBP but I don’t know if I can word it in a way that won’t offend.

The hospital’s actions were far far from innocent and IMO certain staff acted unfairly. But IMO their actions in keeping Beata from Maya were justified with legitimate concerns that she was at risk at that time. In the eyes of the hospital the risk was Beata sourcing Ketamine herself and ‘treating’ Maya.

All MOO and I know many will disagree
 
Blondiexoxo said:
I think the hospital acted in Maya’s best interests at first, there was enough cause for concern to suspect MBP, and in the years since Maya’s condition appears to have drastically improved. Maya was a young child and her recollection could well have been influenced by hearing her family discussing the hospital and their experience. There are a lot of things that leave me uncomfortable here and to any medical professional confronted by a parent demanding that their child gets Ketamine is cause for concern IMO. There

There’s lots more I want to say especially about MBP but I don’t know if I can word it in a way that won’t offend.

The hospital’s actions were far far from innocent and IMO certain staff acted unfairly. But IMO their actions in keeping Beata from Maya were justified with legitimate concerns that she was at risk at that time. In the eyes of the hospital the risk was Beata sourcing Ketamine herself and ‘treating’ Maya.

All MOO and I know many will disagree
Click to expand...
I have had experiance with having 3 different children with conditions that were painful and not normal conditions. My first experiance being a 3 year old who presented as cranky and bruised and looked like a battered child by the time she was was found to be suffering from ALL. she went from perfect to dying in 2 weeks. She was said to have had ALL for 1 year before they caught it (i caught it but they say they did ). I had to fight everyone both times for them to find out what was wrong with my kids. ..both times abuse and mistreat was flaunted to my family friends and different doctors as causes.With my son presenting with fissues due to crohns ,with made my sons doctors ask me if I thought he was being sexually abused. Instant trama. I questioned me and my judgements for 30 seconds. Then only because my son has only been with people I trust 100 percent his entire each minute on this planet . God blessed me there and a few other places.Love that guy. My 3 third crazy case happened when after 5 trips to the doctor in 2 years for weird skin rashes. ,they found my 9 year old baby in stage 4 liver failure. The doctor said it was allergies. It was not. She had a whole live transplant. Someone else ,lost their whole child so she got to live.The only reason. 14 months ago. She is 11 now.
The MBP is way more rare than most conditions parents get pinned with it for and it doesnt get figured out for months or years ,unless someone gets convicted . IMOO.

My take..

If you as a mom have never sat and hugged and cryed with your child who is hurting ,and you have to tell your child you do not know, and cant do anything to help their pain... while watching them hurt every day ,knowing as a parent who loves them more than anything ,you cannot do anything. It is not going to be okay ,it is going to hurt and you cant help. As a mom it does make you want to die. The hospital and doctors are your hope. Beata had zero hope. Some parents have to tell their kids that the child is dying or they do not know.. I have had to really consider this in my life ..Thankfully all the sick kids is fine, two are cured and one is going to have to tuff it out but the future , it is much more beautiful than it used to be, less carefree but good. .

This post is probably confusing to most people ,and so clear to others. It might sound good to judge people on what you know and all that but when it comes to watching a chid suffer in a way that causes them to hurt so bad they want to give up ,or be so tired they are just happy to look at there favorite activity from across the room and it still makes them happy even though they cant pick it up.
It is sad.
I am going to take a break . Or rather I am going to be busy ,my son is moving from peds to adult treatment . YAY! I guess that takes 4 appointments to the build a new team ..or rather work him into their center for life. He turned 18 ,but every ped nurse he ever had has left his office for new jobs ,his last 3 months of peds treatment. ,one or two a month until his very last appiontment ,everyone was a stranger . He is sad , and they all got new jobs . He misses them and he was their job. Its a screwed up way to live for a kid. I over heard tons of gossip. I always knew most of the staff is cliche'.
(probably not taking a break ,hooked)
 
Last edited:
Blondiexoxo said:
I think the hospital acted in Maya’s best interests at first, there was enough cause for concern to suspect MBP, and in the years since Maya’s condition appears to have drastically improved. Maya was a young child and her recollection could well have been influenced by hearing her family discussing the hospital and their experience. There are a lot of things that leave me uncomfortable here and to any medical professional confronted by a parent demanding that their child gets Ketamine is cause for concern IMO. There

There’s lots more I want to say especially about MBP but I don’t know if I can word it in a way that won’t offend.

The hospital’s actions were far far from innocent and IMO certain staff acted unfairly. But IMO their actions in keeping Beata from Maya were justified with legitimate concerns that she was at risk at that time. In the eyes of the hospital the risk was Beata sourcing Ketamine herself and ‘treating’ Maya.

All MOO and I know many will disagree
Click to expand...
How did they justify when she didn’t get better when mom wasn’t around? I can almost see what you are saying, but I do disagree. The person that was able to get an abuse allegation to stick started to believe abuse before she even met Maya. She is a very powerful lady and admittedly believes abuse before anything else because of the trauma she has experienced while doing her job.

Maya was abused, but not by her parents. There is proof that the diagnosis they told the hospital about was true by multiple doctors. But a person without a medical degree determined that they were wrong.

I have too often read about DCS not looking in to abuse claims and a child dies. I do think they had an obligation to look for abuse, but when nothing pointed to abuse, they were way too stubborn to admit they were wrong. The hospital abused Maya and her family IMVHO
 
Soulmagent said:
I have had experiance with having 3 different children with conditions that were painful and not normal conditions. My first experiance being a 3 year old who presented as cranky and bruised and looked like a battered child by the time she was was found to be suffering from ALL. she went from perfect to dying in 2 weeks. She was said to have had ALL for 1 year before they caught it (i caught it but they say they did ). I had to fight everyone both times for them to find out what was wrong with my kids. ..both times abuse and mistreat was flaunted to my family friends and different doctors as causes.With my son presenting with fissues due to crohns ,with made my sons doctors ask me if I thought he was being sexually abused. Instant trama. I questioned me and my judgements for 30 seconds. Then only because my son has only been with people I trust 100 percent his entire each minute on this planet . God blessed me there and a few other places.Love that guy. My 3 third crazy case happened when after 5 trips to the doctor in 2 years for weird skin rashes. ,they found my 9 year old baby in stage 4 liver failure. The doctor said it was allergies. It was not. She had a whole live transplant. Someone else ,lost their whole child so she got to live.The only reason. 14 months ago. She is 11 now.
The MBP is way more rare than most conditions parents get pinned with it for and it doesnt get figured out for months or years ,unless someone gets convicted . IMOO.

My take..

If you as a mom have never sat and hugged and cryed with your child who is hurting ,and you have to tell your child you do not know, and cant do anything to help their pain... while watching them hurt every day ,knowing as a parent who loves them more than anything ,you cannot do anything. It is not going to be okay ,it is going to hurt and you cant help. As a mom it does make you want to die. The hospital and doctors are your hope. Beata had zero hope. Some parents have to tell their kids that the child is dying or they do not know.. I have had to really consider this in my life ..Thankfully all the sick kids is fine, two are cured and one is going to have to tuff it out but the future , it is much more beautiful than it used to be, less carefree but good. .

This post is probably confusing to most people ,and so clear to others. It might sound good to judge people on what you know and all that but when it comes to watching a chid suffer in a way that causes them to hurt so bad they want to give up ,or be so tired they are just happy to look at there favorite activity from across the room and it still makes them happy even though they cant pick it up.
It is sad.
I am going to take a break . Or rather I am going to be busy ,my son is moving from peds to adult treatment . YAY! I guess that takes 4 appointments to the build a new team ..or rather work him into their center for life. He turned 18 ,but every ped nurse he ever had has left his office for new jobs ,his last 3 months of peds treatment. ,one or two a month until his very last appiontment ,everyone was a stranger . He is sad , and they all got new jobs . He misses them and he was their job. Its a screwed up way to live for a kid. I over heard tons of gossip. I always knew most of the staff is cliche'.
(probably not taking a break ,hooked)
Click to expand...
Your post is “so clear” to me
Thank you for sharing it

One of my children had brain cancer when she was three years old- the size of an orange by the time she was diagnosed…
I was accused of lots of things by different doctors
I feel lucky and grateful we were eventually able to get a correct diagnosis

I get everything you said♡
My experiences were similar
 
It wasn’t my intention to bash anyone who’s had a poorly child and had to deal with doctors who don’t listen. I agree it’s my worst nightmare, my 11 year old has always been deathly pale, easily bruised, developed an enlarged lymph node and a lump on the side of his jaw. I went through pure panic mode, the doctors were rather dismissive and I pushed further. Fortunately it was an infection rather than anything serious - Leukemia is what instantly came to my mind so I can’t imagine how you felt with that diagnosis, but I’m really glad that your child is doing ok now.

I myself have experienced dismissive, uninterested sometimes even accusatory doctors over the years in the time before and since my fibromyalgia and CFS diagnosis I even felt like an imposter at one point questioning if it really was ‘just in my head’ as one rude doctor insisted. One said my pain and debilitating fatigue was ‘just because you are getting older’. Feeling defeated yet knowing that something wasn’t right it took 5 years before I was referred to rheumatology. - sorry for the life story I just wanted to explain that I know what people can go through when they have an invisible illness, never mind having to go through it with my child that would just be horrendous.

But, as to another point, I’m sure I read somewhere that doctors said Maya did improve when Beata was not around. I will try and find out where I read that, I’m sure it was mentioned in the documentary when they showed depositions of the health professionals?Even so, sometimes some children can become convinced themselves that they are in pain when all they keep hearing is parents telling others they are in pain.

That being said, multiple things can be true at once. Maya could have had CRPS, and at the same time Maya could have been living in an abusive environment at home and become conditioned to tell others she was in excruciating pain and couldn’t walk, whilst still having CRPS. The hospital could have been neglectful, and staff such as CB could have also been abusive. It doesn’t have to be either one or the other. Each factor in this story could be true all at once.

Maya can now walk, do figure skating, a far cry from the child we saw in the documentary. Beata exhibited some controlling and bizarre behaviour at times IMO, recording and videoing Maya’s doctor visits way before things were questioned or any accusations were made. I do not doubt for a single second that Beata loved and adored Maya, and that she couldn’t bare being apart from her, and like all parents was devestated beyond words when the accusations against her were made. But some mothers want to feel needed, they want to feel loved so badly that someone with already delicate mental health could take their child being in pain so seriously that it becomes an obsession. An obsession to the point of the child becoming the only thing they care about because they feel needed and like they are essential. Meanwhile the child, getting the attention and love realises how much attention they get when they are ill, how their mother is devoting all their time and every fibre of her being to caring for them. This sometimes happens subconsciously in the child, it’s not always a conscious decision, this might have escalated to ketamine comas, and a mission to get ketamine infusions for their child.

But at the same time Beata was still Maya’s mother. Like any mother she couldn’t cope with the situation, being kept from her child, being accused of hurting her child, having her communication with Maya controlled and then cut. If this was the case Beata could have felt she was losing everything and that there was no way out and led to the devestating conclusion.

All I’m saying is that this could be a very complex situation, I don’t think personally that anyone is wholly innocent in this except Maya - and her brother of course. But trying to get such an unfathomable amount of money is astonishing to me, when Beata took her own life, this was a choice she made. If they are awarded the money then this could set a precedent for similar cases, if someone’s children are taken by social services while an investigation is ongoing, then the mother or father takes their life, will the surviving family members be able to sue for millions?

If the hospital did nothing and Maya ended up dead or didn’t come out of one of these comas there would have been uproar. Maybe I’m not seeing this in the same way as everyone else though, it just seemed to me to become an obsession more than just a mother advocating for her child IMO.

All MOO
 
Last edited:
Blondiexoxo said:
But, as to another point, I’m sure I read somewhere that doctors said Maya did improve when Beata was not around. I will try and find out where I read that, I’m sure it was mentioned in the documentary when they showed depositions of the health professionals?Even so, sometimes some children can become convinced themselves that they are in pain when all they keep hearing is parents telling others they are in pain.




All MOO
Click to expand...
rsbm
bbm -I recall reading that as well.
 
arielilane said:
rsbm
bbm -I recall reading that as well.
Click to expand...

The hospital tried to claim that, but it wasn't quite true. She developed lesions and couldn't walk - even though they tried to make her. I haven't watched all of the trial, but the video that played where the defensed tried to claim that Maya didn't want to talk to her parents seemed just the opposite to me. She wanted to talk to them, but got on to a topic that wasn't approved, so they cut off the conversation and tried to steer it in another direction. It didn't show me that she wanted more distance from her family. They also tried to claim the Maya was making it all up. It seems to me that they didn't even try to understand CRPS - which if a parent was given that diagnosis by another provider, they should have tried to prove/disprove the diagnosis. I do agree that some children will behave worse - act more sick - when parents are around. That doesn't make the parent abusive though or even reach the level of MBP. To be honest, I think almost ALL children act differently around their parents - more whiney, more sick, less behaved. Just my honest opinion.
 
cocomod said:
How did they justify when she didn’t get better when mom wasn’t around? I can almost see what you are saying, but I do disagree. The person that was able to get an abuse allegation to stick started to believe abuse before she even met Maya. She is a very powerful lady and admittedly believes abuse before anything else because of the trauma she has experienced while doing her job.
Click to expand...

I think it's wrong to assume she's been traumatized and therefore, due to the trauma, she can't do her job.


cocomod said:
Maya was abused, but not by her parents. There is proof that the diagnosis they told the hospital about was true by multiple doctors. But a person without a medical degree determined that they were wrong.

I have too often read about DCS not looking in to abuse claims and a child dies. I do think they had an obligation to look for abuse, but when nothing pointed to abuse, they were way too stubborn to admit they were wrong. The hospital abused Maya and her family IMVHO
Click to expand...

BBM. Sally Smith has a medical degree. Are you referring to someone else?
 
Blondiexoxo said:
Beata exhibited some controlling and bizarre behaviour at times IMO, recording and videoing Maya’s doctor visits way before things were questioned or any accusations were made.
Click to expand...
(Snipped by me)

The facility my now adult daughter goes to, provides that to patients, so I don’t think it’s unusual to take notes, bring someone with you to take notes, or to audio and/or video record a doctor’s appointment/meeting

It’s encouraged because of the complex nature of the conditions they treat:

Improving Patient Education Through Medical Memory​

It’s not uncommon for your physician to cover a wide array of important, often complex, information during your visit — in fact, 80% of patients struggle to recall details of their visit after the fact. Understanding the vital need for clear communication, Dr. Randall Porter created The Medical Memory program. This program provides you with a video recording of your in-office visit. It’s a free recording (available upon request) that you can access at home whenever you need. It’s also ideal for sharing with family, friends, and other caretakers that have a vested interest in your recovery.

The Patient Experience - Barrow Brain and Spine
The Patient Experience - Barrow Brain and Spine

Just my view/experience
 
Blondiexoxo said:
It wasn’t my intention to bash anyone who’s had a poorly child and had to deal with doctors who don’t listen. I agree it’s my worst nightmare, my 11 year old has always been deathly pale, easily bruised, developed an enlarged lymph node and a lump on the side of his jaw. I went through pure panic mode, the doctors were rather dismissive and I pushed further. Fortunately it was an infection rather than anything serious - Leukemia is what instantly came to my mind so I can’t imagine how you felt with that diagnosis, but I’m really glad that your child is doing ok now.
Click to expand...
I hope i didnt make you feel called out or something.
I quoted your post because it feel like a good place to leap from .
Not to crit
dmac55 said:
Your post is “so clear” to me
Thank you for sharing it

One of my children had brain cancer when she was three years old- the size of an orange by the time she was diagnosed…
I was accused of lots of things by different doctors
I feel lucky and grateful we were eventually able to get a correct diagnosis

I get everything you said♡
My experiences were similar
Click to expand...
So much more too. if you need to talk message trisha and show her this post . She has my number.. she used it once but she is on top of it . She is an excellect pre-screener and a very honest person and her turtle shell is hard. Love her. Thank god for public radio. miss it.
 
arielilane said:
rsbm
bbm -I recall reading that as well.
Click to expand...
Isnt your mom the one you show your most true -st exposed self too?
If everything in your life hurts and you are activity trying to not be a hurtie person ..cause an effect is something sick kids learn fast.. actually ,they get asked about ,how they are feeling =so much ,it is almost like a comedy subspeciality if you know the "jokes" .
No one who knows the jokes wants them to be funny .. but we all land in the hallway giggling at something we wish we didnt get.(or glad we dont have)
 
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