BACKGROUND: "In October 2016, 10-year-old Maya Kowalski presented to the emergency department at All Children's Hospital with severe symptoms of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), a condition of which Maya was previously diagnosed with. Doctors from the hospital did not understand Maya's condition and believed that medicines prescribed from unaffiliated doctors were too extreme. Doctors at the hospital suspected Maya was being medically abused by her mother, Beata Kowalski, as a symptom of Munchausen by proxy. Medical staff subsequently filed a report to the Florida child abuse hotline and took custody of Maya, forcibly barring Maya from seeing her parents. After multiple months without access, Beata committed suicide.[28] In late September 2023, a lawsuit by Maya Kowalski's father, Jack Kowalski, went to trial on behalf of Maya Kowalski, seeking $220 million in damages. The lawsuit accused the hospital of imprisoning Maya in state custody and withholding contact from her parents for a period of three months, accused a hospital social worker of sexual abuse, and mental and psychological abuse by hospital staff during her 3-month stay at All Children's. On November 9, 2023, a Florida jury found in favor of the Kowalski family and awarded them $261 million in damages after 3 days of deliberations.[29]The damages ordered to pay was later reduced to $213.5 million by a judge, who rejected a motion for a retrial. [30]This lawsuit was documented in Take Care of Maya, released on Netflix in June of the same year."
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STORY: John Hopkins All Children's Hospital files an appeal in Sarasota 'Take Care of Maya' case," the Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Reporter Gabriela Szymanowska( reports, on August 3, 2024.
GIST: "Attorneys for Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital filed an appeal Friday in the 'Take Care of Maya' case, arguing the hospital was denied a fair trial and seeking a new trial for some of the claims.
The appeal, filed with Florida's Second District Court of Appeal, asks the appellate court to reverse the final judgment by Sarasota Circuit Court Judge Hunter Carroll awarding the Kowalski family $208 million in both compensatory and punitive damages, and enter a judgment in favor of the hospital for the wrongful death, intentional infliction of emotional destress and the first false-imprisonment claims.
The hospital wants a new trial based on the trial court's "erroneous interpretation of Chapter 39" immunity statutes, the damages awarded to the Kowalski family and for any claims that remain after the appeal.
The appeal comes nine months after a six-person jury awarded the Kowalski family a little over $261 million in compensatory and punitive damages against Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital following a two-month trial in 2023.
Howard Hunter, one of the five attorneys who represented the hospital in the case, indicated following the conclusion of the trial that the hospital would appeal "based on the clear and prejudicial errors throughout the trial and deliberate conduct by plaintiff's counsel that misled the jury.""
The entire story can be read at:
https://draft.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/7855558129703882952
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/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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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;
