ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA: In July 2021, Alicia Schulhof assumed the role of the first female president of Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St Petersburg, six years after the hospital faced accusations of forcibly making Maya Kowalski a state ward, which tragically resulted in her mother, Beata Kowalski's suicide.
Schulhof is an experienced healthcare professional with nearly 17 years of experience at the time of joining the All Children's Hospital.
On November 9, a Florida jury found that the hospital was liable for malpractice in the 'Take Care of Maya' case and awarded $220 million in damages to Maya's family.
Maya filed the lawsuit in 2018, claiming that the hospital staff's actions led to her mother's death.
The case gained attention after the Netflix series 'Take Care of Maya' showed the story of Maya and Beata and the former's medical condition.
What is the 'Take Care of Maya' case?
Maya's mother, Beata, admitted a 10-year-old Maya to the facility in 2015 to treat the severe pain with a risky ketamine treatment caused by complex regional pain syndrome.
However, the hospital was skeptical about Beata's claims and contacted the Florida child welfare authorities, accusing the mother of medical abuse.
The authorities removed Maya from her parents' care. Unable to bear the separation from her daughter for 85 days and the false accusations of abuse led Beata to hang herself to death in her garage in January 2017.
The Kowalski family also claimed that the hospital billed the insurance company thousands of dollars to treat CRPS despite claiming that Maya did not have it.
Maya testified in court, accusing the hospital staffers of denying her condition and falsely claiming that her mother suffered from Munchausen by Proxy syndrome, a psychological disorder that causes caregivers to exaggerate their child's ailments, reported the New York Post.
John Hopkins All Children's Hospital calls the verdict an 'error'
The jury accused JHAC of falsely imprisoning the teenager, separating her from her parents, and causing them severe emotional distress.
Greg Anderson, the Kowalski's attorney, described the hospital as "a totally dysfunctional organization," and "Kowalskis paid the price" for that.
Maya was seen repeatedly crying on the stand, remembering her mother while the defense attorney tried to prove that she never suffered from CRPS.
However, the JHAC attorney said the court judged based on "clear and prejudicial errors."
"The evidence clearly showed that Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital followed Florida's mandatory reporting law in reporting suspected child abuse and, when those suspicions were confirmed by the district court, fully complied with Department of Children and Families (DCF) and court orders," said the hospital lawyer Howard Hunter in a statement.
He said that the hospital is "determined to defend the vitally important obligation of mandatory reporters to report suspected child abuse."
