STORY: 'Take care of Maya' trial: Plaintiff's rest in $220 M case against John Hopkins All Children's Hospital, FOX 14 Tampa Bay news Staff reports on November 6, 2023.
GIST: "After a four-day weekend, jurors listened to the plaintiffs finish presenting their rebuttal in the $220 million case against Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital that was the premise of the Netflix documentary ‘Take Care of Maya’.
Originally, lawyers were expected to present closing arguments on Monday, but now the judge expects lawyers to begin closing arguments on Tuesday morning.
Last week, the case nearly came to a standstill as the Kowalski's attorneys questioned a witness on the hospital’s Joint Commission review.
They pointed out the hospital had an immediate jeopardy citation, which they believe was during the time Maya was hospitalized.
Days prior, the hospital presented expert witness Mark Anderson who told the jury they met accreditation standards in 2016.
The Kowalski family’s attorneys said that could have misrepresented the St. Petersburg hospital’s image to the jury.
While the defense team for the hospital said it was only for the hospital’s heart institute, the Kowalski’s attorneys wanted a closer look and so did Judge Hunter Carroll.
"This thing kind of exploding on the last day of testimony, the last thing I want to do is make a wrong call on this issue because this issue has the perspective of causing this whole thing to be done over again," said Judge Carroll.
Before the jury was in the courtroom on Monday, the Kowalskis’ attorneys told Judge Carroll they had not received corrective action plans, town hall meetings or internal emails until they did a deposition from a former hospital staff member.
He said at that time they received a stack of documents that was 8–10 inches thick that correlated with fixing the cultural issues of Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital not just with its Heart Institute.
The lawyers for the Kowalski family said that the information they were provided revealed a culture of retaliation and retribution for people who raised issues at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital.
It has been noted that several nurse practitioners brought up issues at the hospital as early as 2015.
The attorneys added that the documents revealed that eight key executives were forced out during this time and the hospital conducted a massive re-education campaign encouraging all team members to speak up and speak out.
However, defense attorneys argued that the ‘immediate jeopardy’ finding did not occur while Maya was at the facility.
An attorney for the hospital did admit that Hospital VP Jackie Crain lost her job because of the heart institute issue and the failure to report deaths and the failure of oversight regarding those issues.
The defense attorney also admitted that Anderson had not been provided the information on the Joint Commission findings before his testimony stating that the hospital met accreditation standards in 2016.
Dr. Joseph Corcoran, a policy and procedure expert, was the only witness to take the stand Monday afternoon.
He explained how a Joint Commission survey worked and how it impacted a hospital.
After his testimony, the plaintiffs rested their case. Judge Carroll is expected to explain jury instructions to the jury Monday afternoon.
He said he expects both sides to present closing arguments Tuesday morning and give the case to the jury for deliberations later in the day.”
The entire story can be read at:
