Florida DCF Shelter Order Separates Maya Kowalski From Family After Hospital Reports Mother's Advocacy
In October 2016, Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg reported Beata Kowalski to the Florida Department of Children and Families, alleging 'medical child abuse' after she advocated for her 10-year-old daughter Maya's CRPS treatment protocol. A shelter order barred Beata from contact with Maya; Beata died by suicide in January 2017. A Sarasota County jury in 2023 returned a $261 million verdict against the hospital, later reduced.
Maya Kowalski was admitted to Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in October 2016 for a Complex Regional Pain Syndrome flare. After her mother Beata, a registered nurse, insisted on the ketamine protocol Maya had previously received, hospital staff contacted child-welfare authorities and Dr. Sally Smith, a state-contracted child-abuse pediatrician, diagnosed Munchausen syndrome by proxy. A Florida DCF shelter order separated Maya from her mother for approximately 87 days; the court barred Beata from visiting or speaking with her daughter, citing among other things Beata's emails and communications with providers. Beata Kowalski died by suicide on Jan. 8, 2017. The family sued the hospital; in November 2023 a Sarasota County jury awarded $261 million (later reduced on post-trial motions and partially reversed on appeal in 2025). The case was the subject of the 2023 Netflix documentary 'Take Care of Maya' and is repeatedly cited in medical-legal literature on parental speech and child-welfare reporting.