PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In a statement after the ruling was handed down, Howard Hunter, attorney from Hill Ward Henderson who represented Johns Hopkins in the case, told DailyMail.com that the hospital intends to appeal the decision. Hunter said: 'The facts and the law remain on our side, and we will continue to defend the lifesaving and compassionate care provided to Maya Kowalski by the physicians, nurses and staff of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital and the responsibility of all mandatory reporters in Florida to speak up if they suspect child abuse.' Jennifer Anderson, who represents part of the legal counsel for the Kowalski family said: 'We are obviously grateful for the time and effort of the jury and Court and the family is completely grateful to be vindicated and truly prays this makes a change for other families in the future.'
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STORY: "Netflix's Maya Kowalski breaks down in court as verdict is read out: She WINS $220M lawsuit against 'dysfunctional' All Children's Hospital and jury finds her false imprisonment by medics drove her mom to suicide, The Daily Mail (Reporters Aneeta Bhole and Will Potter) report, published on November 9, 2023.
Jurors ruled in favor the teen, whose story is the subject of Netflix documentary 'Take Care of Maya', finding that the Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital had falsely imprisoned her.
Maya, 17, was just 10, when she was removed by the state after doctors accused her parents of faking symptoms for her rare condition - complex regional pain syndrome.
The jury found the emotional distress caused to her mother Beata Kowalski - who was forbidden from seeing her daughter for three months - led to her suicide in 2017.
Maya, her father Jack and brother Kyle broke down in tears as the jury's findings were read out at the court in St. Petersburg on Thursday.
Jurors found the children's hospital liable for false imprisonment of Maya, battery of Maya, fraudulent billing of her father Jack; inflicting emotional distress on Beata; wrongful death claim for the estate of Beata; and intentionally inflicting emotional distress on Maya.
The extent of the damages owed to the family were still being resolved in court at the time of writing but jurors have awarded the Kowalskis at least $211million.
The family argued that the grief-stricken mom fell into a depression and ultimately hanged herself in the family garage, but Johns Hopkins had vehemently denied that it caused her death or abused Maya.
In a statement after the ruling was handed down, Howard Hunter, attorney from Hill Ward Henderson who represented Johns Hopkins in the case, told DailyMail.com that the hospital intends to appeal the decision.
Hunter said: 'The facts and the law remain on our side, and we will continue to defend the lifesaving and compassionate care provided to Maya Kowalski by the physicians, nurses and staff of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital and the responsibility of all mandatory reporters in Florida to speak up if they suspect child abuse.'
Jennifer Anderson, who represents part of the legal counsel for the Kowalski family said: 'We are obviously grateful for the time and effort of the jury and Court and the family is completely grateful to be vindicated and truly prays this makes a change for other families in the future.'"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12725249/Netflix-Maya-Kowalski-verdict.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.
Lawyer Radha Natarajan;
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”
