‘Take Care of Maya’ trial sees Sarasota judge frustrated by attorneys
As the trial of a Venice family suing a St. Petersburg hospital inches towards the plaintiffs resting their case, a Sarasota judge’s frustrations are boiling over as he attempts to keep the trial on track.
Sarasota Circuit Court Judge Hunter Carroll on Wednesday expressed annoyance at attorneys for the Kowalski family about the lack of communication to the defense about who would testify, as well as sending hundreds of pages of documents to the defense at midnight to review prior to the next day.
The Kowalskis’ attorney, Greg Anderson, informed the defense that they decided at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday they wouldn’t be calling in Dr. Ashraf Hanna, and simply did not inform them.
“After they spent all evening preparing for a live witness that you told them was going to be first up, at 11:30 p.m., you make the decision and didn’t even bother to tell them?” Carroll questioned.
‘Take Care of Maya’ trial coverage:Maya Kowalski testifies about hospital experience
Gallery:Take Care of Maya Trial
“I am so tired of how you’re not telling the other side information. It’s just wrong,” Carroll said, before abruptly leaving the courtroom so the attorneys could work out who would be called to testify.
Carroll told the attorneys there needed to be a better way of communicating who would be taking the stand before midnight and that a similar situation could not happen again.
Since the beginning of the trial, Carroll has indicated his exasperations about exhibits not being approved by both sides and entered in as evidence prior to the start of the trial, not having the lineup for witnesses laid out, and encroaching on previously entered orders which prohibit some issues from being brought up before the jury.
The trial, which started four weeks ago with jury selection, has had a myriad of roadblocks that have caused the case to slow at times due to sidebars with the judge that sometimes require the jury to leave the room, various objections to questions and evidence, and attorneys not being prepared with exhibits prior to the day’s start. The trial was set to last between six to eight weeks, with attorneys being pressed to ensure it wraps up by Nov. 9 for the sake of the jurors.
The Kowalski family sued All Children’s Hospital in 2018 for false imprisonment, negligent infliction of emotional distress, medical negligence, battery, and other claims more than a year after the family matriarch, Beata Kowalski, took her life following allegations she was abusing her daughter.
The family took 10-year-old Maya Kowalski to All Children’s Hospital in October 2016 after she complained of severe stomach pain, believed by the family to be a relapse of her Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, a disorder that impairs the central nervous system and heightens pain sensations. The illness is sometimes also referred to as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome.
Maya Kowalski was separated from her family, friends, and community following a Florida Department of Children and Families investigation and ordered by a judge to remain at the hospital. She remained separated for three months before reuniting with her father and brother shortly after her mother’s death.
Psychiatrist confirms diagnosis of depression, PTSD in Maya and family
Dr. Timothy Brewerton, an adult and pediatric forensic psychiatrist, testified Tuesday that all three Kowalskis suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, and complicated traumatic bereavement.
Brewerton performed his evaluations in late January 2022, where he reviewed all previous medical history, had each family member fill out a self-reported questionnaire and individually interviewed them.
Brewerton said he believes that Maya Kowalski sustained her PTSD from her experience at the hospital, which also impacted her brother and dad.
“Family support is enormously important, and so if everyone is suffering and kind of in the same hole, it makes it much harder to get out of that hole,” Brewerton said.
All three family members will most likely struggle with PTSD, depression, and bereavement for the rest of their lives, with Maya Kowalski being prone to possible suicidal ideations due to CRPS, hereditary genes, and experiencing her mother’s death at a young age, Brewerton said.
Furthermore, Maya Kowalski lives a more sheltered life and isn’t as active out in the world, Brewerton said, adding that those suffering from PTSD have less hope for the future, often thinking they’re going to die young. Brewerton also said Maya will face more challenges with these diagnoses in the future once she leaves home.
Brewerton said a combination of psychotherapy and medications like antianxiety and antidepressants could help Maya cope better.
More coverage:‘Take Care of Maya’ trial: Jury hears Maya’s former attorney, doctor and social worker
Previous coverage:‘Take Care of Maya’ trial: Father takes stand, Sarasota judge denies 2 mistrial motions
Ethen Shapiro, a defense attorney for the hospital, argued Maya didn’t have a baseline assessment done prior to her admission to the hospital in October 2016, meaning there wasn’t a comparison that could be made to see if she had had depression and anxiety prior.
Shapiro argued Maya Kowalski appeared to be living a thriving life after her discharge from the hospital. She became class president, had a boyfriend, got a job, traveled to New York for a film festival, and is looking at colleges beyond the state.
Pain management specialist testifies to Maya’s CRPS diagnosis, ketamine treatments
Following Brewerton, Anderson called Dr. Anthony Kirkpatrick to take the stand, the pain management specialist from Tampa who was the first to diagnose Maya Kowalski with CRPS in September 2015 and later referred her for the ketamine coma procedure in Mexico.
Prior to the doctor’s testimony, those in the room began laughing when a model skeleton was wheeled into the courtroom, only to be wheeled out shortly after, following Anderson’s decision that he wouldn’t be using the skeleton during his questioning of Kirkpatrick.
Kirkpatrick explained his process of diagnosing Maya Kowalski with CRPS, noting that during his head-to-toe examination, he observed hypersensitivity to touch, dystonia in her feet, sensitivity to light, skin temperature changes and lesions, and she also met the quantitative pain threshold.
Kirkpatrick added Maya was a curious patient, listening and engaging in the conversation by asking a lot of questions. Kirkpatrick didn’t physically examine Maya prior to her admission into Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.
When Maya was admitted, Kirkpatrick spoke with Dr. Sally Smith, a pediatrician and then part-time medical director of the Pinellas County Child Protection Team, over the phone for half an hour he explained the criteria Maya met to be diagnosed with CRPS, what the condition was, emphasized that his findings were objective and pointed out the specific symptoms. Kirkpatrick said during the conversation, Smith hadn’t asked any questions.
Kirkpatrick also told Beata Kowalski numerous times that if Maya didn’t get her legs to move, she could have an embolism in her leg which could lead to death, and once Maya was in the hospital, Kirkpatrick told Beata Kowalski that Maya could die a slow painful death if she wasn’t receiving ketamine.
Defense attorney Howard Hunter, representing the hospital, questioned whether Kirkpatrick had spoken with any of the more than three dozen physicians and specialists the family had seen who didn’t diagnose Maya Kowalski with CRPS prior to her visit with Kirkpatrick. The doctor couldn’t recall speaking to any others before diagnosing Maya.
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During a second visit in November 2015, Maya Kowalski was complaining of increasing CRPS pain in her legs, and Kirkpatrick noted Maya was dehydrated and not taking in food or fluids.
Upon her admission into All Children’s Hospital on Oct. 7, 2016, Maya Kowalski was in a wheelchair, couldn’t walk, was hypersensitive to touch, had dystonia, and was homebound, Hunter described.
Kirkpatrick pointed out that one doctor had noted in his notes after Maya Kowalski returned from Mexico that she was improved and a different child, and he said she was in worse shape after being admitted to the hospital because she had acute abdominal pain.
Hunter also brought up the idea that Kirkpatrick had at one point warned the Kowalskis they could be accused of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Kirkpatrick said he couldn’t recall that.
Beata’s sister describes losing connection with Maya, Kyle following Beata’s death
Appearing on Zoom from her home in Chicago and translated by an interpreter, Regina Chiemel spoke about how after her sister’s death, Maya and Kyle Kowalskis’ connection to Beata’s side of the family has become fractured.
Chiemel, speaking in her native Polish, said that while she texts her niece and nephew daily, she has only seen her sister’s children twice since her death.
Beata Kowalski was the connector between her children and the rest of her family who live in Chicago — she was the one who spoke to them in Polish, enrolled them in a weekly Polish school in Chicago, and brought her family and children together.
Day 2 of ‘Take Care of Maya’ trial:Younger brother, uncle testify
More:Jury hears from family physician, psychologist during third day of ‘Take Care of Maya’ trial
Opening statements:Trial begins in ‘Take Care of Maya’ case, attorneys lay out what to expect
Depositions of hospital employees played, Risk Management Committee
The jury on Wednesday watched three depositions of hospital employees, all connected to either the ethics or risk management committees.
In the deposition of Laura Ann Vose, a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine and chair on the hospital’s ethics committee, the jury learned Vose had seen Maya Kowalski at the hospital 10 times and had sent a text to another doctor that “ketamine girl’s mom committed suicide” following Beata Kowalski’s death.
The texts between the two doctors revealed that Vose had “predicted” Beata Kowalski’s death, explaining to Anderson in the deposition that there had been a similar situation at the hospital during her residency when another child was diagnosed with Munchausen by Proxy and their mother committed suicide.
Vose said she felt sad about the situation but was hopeful that Maya would be able to have a more active life when asked if she had any remorse for the texts.
When asked if the ethics committee would look into an ethical issue question without being prompted, Vose said the committee only looked into issues when a request was submitted.
In the other two depositions of doctors who were members of the risk management committee, it was revealed that the committee acts in a retrospective manner, meeting quarterly to review any problems and then establishing ways to address them. However, the committee didn’t work in real-time so they wouldn’t have addressed anything going on with Maya Kowalski during her stay at the hospital, with one doctor indicating he’d been unaware of what happened until he read a Herald-Tribune/USA Today article two weeks prior to his May 2023 deposition.
Gabriela Szymanowska covers the legal system for the Herald-Tribune in partnership with Report for America. You can support her work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America. Contact Gabriela Szymanowska at gszymanowska@gannett.com, or on Twitter.
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