An appeals court just overturned a $213.5 million verdict against Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in a case that inspired a Netflix documentary, ruling that a prior Judge misapplied Florida’s child abuse immunity law.
In a 47-page opinion, viewable below, a three-Judge panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal reversed the 2023 jury award to Maya Kowalski and her family and ordered a new trial only on limited issues.
The court said Sarasota Circuit Judge Hunter Carroll should have dismissed several claims, including false imprisonment tied to Kowalski’s initial hospital stay and the intentional infliction of emotional distress on her mother, Beata, who committed suicide after she was reported for child abuse.
Its reasoning: Once hospital staff reported suspected abuse, Florida law shielded the facility for good-faith participation in the dependency process.
The panel focused on Florida Statute 39.203(1)(a), which grants immunity to people and institutions that, in good faith, report suspected child abuse or participate in actions authorized under state laws on child-related proceedings.
The court concluded that the hospital had legal authority to detain Maya during the first days of her 2016 admission and that the jury should not have heard inflammatory evidence about restrictions imposed by dependency orders.
“The final judgment in favor of the Kowalskis is reversed,” the opinion states. It goes on to say that only claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, battery and medical negligence may be retried. Claims for wrongful death, fraudulent billing and other counts were effectively foreclosed or required directed verdicts.
The decision — handed down Wednesday by Judges Anthony Black, Edward LaRose and Andrea Teves Smith — marks a victory for the St. Petersburg hospital, which argued the statute protects mandatory reporting of child abuse even if such reports are later proven “overzealous.”
In a statement to Court TV, hospital attorney Ethen Shapiro said the opinion “sends a clear and vital message to mandatory reporters in Florida and across the country that their duty to report suspicions of child abuse and, critically, their good faith participation in child protection activities remain protected.”
The case stemmed from the 2016 hospitalization of then-10-year-old Maya Kowalski, who had been diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome — a rare neurological condition that causes severe sensitivity to touch — and previously treated with high-dose ketamine. Hospital personnel reported suspected medical child abuse, and a dependency Judge soon sheltered the girl and barred contact with her mother pending evaluation.
Beata Kowalski killed herself in January 2017, the day after a hearing continued those restrictions. In 2023, a civil jury found the hospital liable on multiple counts and awarded the Kowalski family more than $250 million, a sum later reduced to $213.5 million.
The litigation drew widespread attention after Netflix released “Take Care of Maya” in June 2023. The documentary chronicled the family’s ordeal and was viewed nearly 14 million times in its first two weeks, helping transform the trial into a national flashpoint over doctors’ obligations, parents’ rights, and the limits of hospital liability.
The tragedy may have been prevented if legislation filed for consideration in 2026 had been law at the time Maya Kowalski was hospitalized. For the past two Sessions, Broward Democratic Rep. Barbara Sharief has carried “Patterson’s Law,” a proposal that would guarantee parents the right to request examinations from licensed physicians in the event of suspected child abuse.
The measure is named for Michael and Tasha Patterson and their twin sons, whom the Department of Children and Families took into custody and haven’t returned after broken bones the boys suffered raised alarms during an emergency room visit. The couple has taken the matter to court, citing medical evidence showing that, like their mother, the boys suffer from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. This rare genetic disorder causes easy bruising and fragile bones.
There have been several other instances of family separation due to alleged, but possibly false, suspicion of child abuse.
Last year’s version of the bill cleared all of its Committee stops with uniform support before dying on the Senate floor after its House companion, sponsored by Weston Democratic Rep. Robin Bartleman and Shalimar Republican Rep. Patt Maney, stalled out in its last Committee.
Sharief, Bartleman and Maney refiled the proposal (SB 42, HB 57) last month.