Take Care of Maya Verdict Overturned: Full Update

The Netflix documentary “Take Care of Maya” turned a family’s tragedy into a national conversation about medical child abuse allegations. But the legal battle that followed has just taken a dramatic twist: a Florida appeals court overturned the historic $261 million jury verdict against Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.

Jury award (Nov 2023): $261 million ($213M in compensatory, $48M in punitive) ·
Appeals court reversal: October 29, 2025, by Florida Second District Court of Appeal ·
Hospital originally sued: Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital ·
Maya Kowalski age during trial: 18 (born 2005)

The table below lays out five critical data points that define the case.

What happened in the Take Care of Maya trial?

Jury verdict in 2023

• In November 2023, a Florida jury found Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital liable for false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and medical negligence against Maya Kowalski and her family (Herald-Tribune, Sarasota newspaper).
• The jury awarded $213 million in compensatory damages and $48 million in punitive damages, totaling $261 million.
• The case centered on the hospital’s 2016 report to child protective services accusing Maya’s mother, Beata Kowalski, of medical child abuse.

Appeals court reversal in 2025

• On October 29, 2025, the Florida Second District Court of Appeal reversed the entire verdict (WUSF, Florida public radio).
• The appellate panel concluded that the trial court erred by not properly applying Florida’s child-abuse-reporting immunity statute (Law360, legal news outlet).
• It held that the hospital acted in good faith when participating in child-protection activities (FOX 13 Tampa Bay, regional news station).

The pattern: a jury’s outrage collided with a statute designed to protect children. The appeals court sided with the law, not the emotion.

What illness did Maya have in Take Care of Maya?

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

• Maya Kowalski was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at age 10 in 2015 (WUSF, Florida public radio).
• CRPS is a chronic pain condition that typically affects a limb after an injury or surgery. It is characterized by prolonged, intense pain that is disproportionate to the initial event.
• There is no known cure; treatment focuses on managing symptoms with physical therapy, medications, and sometimes nerve blocks or ketamine infusions.

Diagnosis and symptoms

• Multiple physicians diagnosed Maya with CRPS, but the hospital’s child protection team questioned the legitimacy of the diagnosis (Justia, legal database).
• The documentary shows Maya in severe pain, using a wheelchair, and undergoing ketamine treatments.
• The dispute over whether her symptoms were “real” or “exaggerated” by her mother became the central legal issue.

What is Maya Kowalski known for?

Documentary subject

• Maya Kowalski is the central subject of the 2023 Netflix documentary “Take Care of Maya,” directed by Henry Roosevelt (Herald-Tribune, Sarasota newspaper).
• The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2023 and was released on Netflix in July 2023.
• It documents the family’s ordeal: Maya’s hospitalization, the separation from her mother, and Beata Kowalski’s suicide in January 2017.

Legal case plaintiff

• Maya, along with her father Jack Kowalski and the estate of Beata Kowalski, sued Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital for false imprisonment, battery, medical negligence, and wrongful death.
• The case drew national attention because it highlighted the tension between protecting children from abuse and the risk of wrongly accusing parents of a rare condition.
• Maya was 18 years old at the time of the 2023 trial.

What was the outcome of the Maya case trial?

Initial award

• The jury awarded $213 million in compensatory damages and $48 million in punitive damages, totaling $261 million (Herald-Tribune, Sarasota newspaper).
• The award covered claims from Maya, Jack Kowalski, and the estate of Beata Kowalski.

Appeals ruling

• The Florida Second District Court of Appeal vacated the entire judgment on October 29, 2025 (WUSF, Florida public radio).
• It ruled that the trial court misread Chapter 39 immunity, which protects anyone who reports suspected child abuse in good faith (Law360, legal news outlet).
• Punitive damages were rejected entirely. Only claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress on behalf of Maya, plus remaining false imprisonment, battery, and medical negligence claims, may be retried (WUSF, Florida public radio).

The trade-off: the statute that protects mandated reporters also leaves families like the Kowalskis with a steep hill to climb.

Does Maya Kowalski still have CRPS?

CRPS prognosis

• CRPS is considered a chronic, incurable condition. Symptoms can persist for years or decades.
• Maya’s treatment history included ketamine infusions, physical therapy, and other pain management modalities.

Current condition

• Maya still reports symptoms as of 2025, according to family statements in media coverage (FOX 13 Tampa Bay, regional news station).
• Exact medical details are not publicly available, as her medical records are private.
• The appeals ruling does not change the medical reality of her condition.

The reversal of the $261 million verdict does not erase the family’s loss, but it reshapes the legal landscape. For the Kowalski family, the path forward is uncertain: either a retrial on a narrower set of claims, or a settlement that may not reflect the original jury’s judgment. For hospitals and child-protection agencies in Florida, the ruling reinforces the broad immunity they enjoy when they report suspected abuse—even when the allegations later prove unfounded. The law protects reporters, not families caught in the crossfire.