"We’re not just seeking damages to compensate the family but to punish the hospital for what it’s done."
This much, at least, is not disputed: Maya Kowalski was 10 years old when she arrived at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital with debilitating pain and vomiting.
Almost everything else about the Venice girl’s life in 2016 — her mystery disease and treatments, her relationship with her mom and the state’s decision to remove her from her family and shelter her at the St. Petersburg hospital for three months — is at the center of a fiercely contested lawsuit.
The separation proved too much for Maya’s mom, Beata Kowalski. After 87 days without physical contact with her daughter, the 43-year-old took her own life.
The complex and tragic story of Maya, now 17, is the subject of “Take Care of Maya,” a new Netflix documentary streaming Monday. The fraught tale that it covers is heavy with allegations from both sides.
Read more at the Tampa Bay Times