Bowens on Tuesday disputed allegations that her daughter was physically abused at their home, and gave this account of the injury:
Bowens said she took her daughter to West Houston Medical Center last July because she was lethargic, but nurses didn't examine her head.
Weeks later, on July 28, Maleah fell while she was sitting at the table eating by herself, Bowens said.
"When she falls, she came around that couch, she had a deep gash in her head and it freaked me out," said Bowens, who again rushed her daughter to West Houston. Doctors discharged Maleah without performing a CT scan, Bowens said.
Five days later, in early August, Maleah suffered a seizure, Bowens said, sobbing. Maleah was taken to a children's hospital.
"They did a CT scan and that's when they told me there was bleeding on the left-hand side of her brain," she said. "At that point it was a life or death situation."