Where is Maya Kowalski from Netflix's Take Care of Maya now?
We've been glued to (and enraged by) the new Netflix documentary Take Care of Maya. The gut-wrenching true story is about Maya Kowalski, who was 10 years old when she was taken into hospital by her parents back in 2016 – and that one hospital visit led to a heartbreaking tragedy.
Maya was suffering with stomach pains, which were intensified by a previously diagnosed illness called complex regional pain syndrome (known as CRPS). It's a rare condition that causes extreme pain and burning sensations in the limbs. The medical team at the hospital were confused by her symptoms – and also her mother's insistence that Maya should be given a high dose of ketamine while she underwent a routine examination (something Maya had previously been successfully treated with at another medical facility).
Eventually, the hospital brought in child abuse paediatrician Dr Sally Smith, who accused Maya's mother of abuse by Munchausen syndrome by proxy – where a caregiver invents symptoms or causes real ones to make their child appear sick (according the Journal of Pediatrics).
Maya was eventually taken from her parents and kept in hospital for months. Devastated and broken, Maya's mother, Beata, died by suicide while fighting to try and get her daughter back.
The documentary recounts this harrowing true story and the Kowalski's quest for justice – here's everything you need to know...
Who is Take Care of Maya's Maya Kowalski?
Let's take it back to the beginning: Maya was born in St. Petersburg in Florida in 2006.
Her mother, Beata, was born in Poland but moved to America when she was a teenager. Beata studied ferociously at nursing school before qualifying as a nurse and eventually marrying firefighter, Jack Kowalski. Initially, the couple had difficulties conceiving before Maya and her younger brother – named Kyle – were born.
What happened to Maya Kowalski?
It was one weekend in 2015 that Maya started feeling really sick. Her and her brother had been playing with sparklers near their home when she had an asthma attack. Over the following weeks, Maya also started complaining of other symptoms, including blurred vision and a burning sensation in her feet. It got so bad she couldn't walk.
In the documentary, it's said that Maya's mother, Beata, could hear her screaming in her bedroom at night, such was the pain. Although Beata was a nurse, she was baffled by her daughter's symptoms.
Maya's frantic parents took her from doctor to doctor, but most failed to identify the root of their daughter's problems. Eventually, through the parents of another child who suffered from chronic pain, Jack and Beata were told about an anaesthesiologist and pharmacologist in Tampa who specialised in CRPS, Dr Anthony Kirkpatrick, who finally diagnosed Maya with the rare disease.
It was Dr Kirkpatrick who suggested a ketamine infusion treatment – as he'd used it successfully on many patients before Maya. Someone with CRPS has random bursts of excessive pain – meaning that even a tiny touch of the skin can lead to feelings of intense and excruciating pain – and ketamine has been found to alleviate these brutal symptoms.
It was in October 2016 that Maya was rushed to the Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital emergency room with the crippling stomach pains that confused the doctors. This was when Maya's mother asked doctors to prescribe Maya a high dose of ketamine – something she knew would alleviate her daughter's pain.
Eventually hospital staff became suspicious and Beata's insistence that her daughter be given a high volume of drugs, and called in the child abuse paediatrician Dr Sally Smith, whose report then accused Beata of Munchausen syndrome by proxy – meaning Maya was placed in state custody. She was kept in hospital for over three months and wasn't allowed to see her mother.
Beata was concerned for her child's safety – especially when she found out Maya was being looked after by a social worker, Catherine 'Cathi' Bedi, who had child abuse charges against her. In another heartbreaking twist, a later psychological evaluation was ordered and proved that Beata didn't suffer from Munchausen syndrome by proxy.
But sadly, despite this and evidence from Maya's former doctor that supported her treatment via ketamine, Beata's mental health declined and in January 2017 – after 87 days without her daughter – the 43-year-old hung herself at home.
"One day I was in the ICU, and my mom kissed me on the forehead and was like, 'I love you. I'll see you tomorrow.' I never saw her again," Maya told US magazine, People. "I was medically kidnapped. I tried being hopeful, but there was a point where I thought, 'I'm never getting out of this place'."
Five days after her mother's death, Maya was allowed to go home with her father.
Where is Maya Kowalski now?
Maya is now 17 years old and lives with her dad and brother in Venice in Florida. She still suffers from CRPS, but a court order means she can no longer receive ketamine treatment.
According to People, she still experiences pain so intense that it causes her to cry out. "I do my best to push through," she said, "I've already missed a lot, so I want to make the most of life now." But she has regained use of her legs, so she can walk again.
In October 2018, the family launched a lawsuit suing the All Children's Johns Hopkins hospital, the Florida Department of Child and Families, Maya's social worker Cathi Bedy, and Dr Sally Smith, along with her employer, Suncoast Center. They're accused of "a host of wrongdoings, including medical malpractice, holding Maya against her will, dismissing the advice of her paediatricians, ignoring signs that her mother was on the verge of a breakdown and forbidding Maya access to her rosary and prayer documents," according to The Herald-Tribune.
"For us as a family to move on, we need to fulfil my mom's wish and fight," Maya commented to People. "I want justice for my mom."
In December 2021, the family settled with Dr Smith and Suncoast for the sum of $2.5 million. But their legal battle with All Children's and Cathi Bedy continues and is set to go to trial in September.
Does Maya Kowalski have Instagram?
Yes, Maya is on Instagram – her handle is @mayakowalsk1. And people who've watched the doc have been quick to jump into her comments: "The world is watching. Praying and sending good energy to push this forward to the finish line. Thank you for being the catalyst to bringing down a strong evil part of the system," said one.
Another added, "As a nurse, I can clearly tell that hospital knows they did you and your family wrong (acting all scared and shady). The nurse in the ER does not even know CRPS yet how dare they question your symptoms."
You can watch Take Care of Maya on Netflix now
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