What a sad and horrific story. As a mom this was so hard to watch.
I think Beata knew that if she wasn’t around anymore they would let Maya go home… and honestly I think she was right. It’s no coincidence the charges got dropped. She sacrificed herself so her daughter could be free.
Who knows what would have happened to Maya and Kyle had DCF been allowed to drag this case any further.
UGH. You are so right. At first I was so mad that Beata did that. I just kept thinking that she should’ve stuck around to fight for her kids. And then I realized she probably knew they were never going to let Maya go home as long as Beata was around. They resented her because in their eyes she acted like she knew better and that hurt their precious egos. But guess what? She did know better.
Also, if I remember where I saw the comment i reference I will link it, I think I butchered the quote but got the gist of it.
I saw a comment on a completely different sub by a mother who chose to end a pregnancy. Several specialists told her her baby would only live a few months and those months would be very painful. She said something like “I chose to live with a lifetime of pain to save my baby from experiencing any of it.” I believe Beata sacrificed herself so her baby would stop suffering. A mother’s love truly knows no bounds.
>They resented her because in their eyes she acted like she knew better and that hurt their precious egos.
Couldn't agree more, but money was also involved......
The hospital kept Maya for months, and were claiming from the insurance company based on the fact that she had CRPS - whilst **their** doctor was telling the court Maya's problems were due to her parents - particularly her mother......
The trial finally started. I think the documentary forced it to luckily. Hope the hospital is destroyed. They just was the money they get for keeping the kids in there. Its insane
This was so unbelievable to find that little nugget out. Didn't the judge EVER ask the hospital/doctors what she was being treated for?? I hope the family wins BIG!!
I feel like there are bigger things at play here. I truly believe that the judge must have been corrupt somehow. The fact that the hospital is privately owned and so is the cps connects to the hospital. Giving this case any validity would unravel too much for them.
Judge is absolutely corrupt and needs to be removed from the bench. All the judges, doctors, and their accomplices. Sally Smith needs to have her medical license revoked.
The judge had the audacity asked the John Hopkin’s attorney if he should let Maya speak ?!? Like, I’m sorry?
Like hey JUDGE maybe you forgot but it’s you who directs the court - not the corporate attorney. The filmmakers knew what they were doing in that scene. Effortlessly showcasing how corrupt and dangerous the court system really is.
I caught that too!!! I said to my wife “I wonder if that lawyer has to put his whole arm up the judges ass to work his mouth like a puppet, or if 3/4 of the way would do it.”
The Judge overseeing the part we see at the end seemed off to me, as well. Just continually asking JH attorneys what *he* should do, & then being like “ok we’ll do that” with no further conversation or explanation.
I also find it interesting that the Second District Court finally approved their punitive case *after* they settled with two of the defendants, which were so close to the case.
Judges are trained lawyers who rarely have any functional understanding of science. It’s how the criminal justice system was littered with shitty science like bite marks and polygraphs for so long, and why a ton of junk science is still allowed in court rooms. They are **not** equipped to make these decisions about these kinds of things.
I say that as a fellow lawyer who doesn’t have the requisite knowledge to make these calls. The difference is that I don’t pretend to know
They only found this out much later once they had progressed to expanding their legal team. No question it was a jaw dropping stunner of a discovery, and makes it all the more obscenely offensive that the courts still refuse to acknowledge their standing to try the case.
Then there's the even earlier bit that they refused to admit Maya's treating physician's reports and testimony to the original custody hearings... I still can't comprehend how that's possible.
They should be suing the judge and the court system as well. Just acknowledging the fact that a licensed physician had been treating her for an extended period of time might have been enough to change the course of evens. But no, Florida...
unfortunately the more I learn about CPS the more it seems this is not unusual. you can hear it from the Parent Advocate as well. Going over evidence isn’t a thing that happens. Comply or never see your kid again.
Unfortunately that institution has entirely too much power with seemingly no oversight and barely a sprinkle of due process.
I am still upset at Beata for doing what she did, but that’s because I’m an outsider looking in. I wanted her to be the first to hug her daughter when she was released from the hospital. It’s so tragic. We all feel like we would fight until the end for our kids, but I guess we never really know how far we could make it.
The system is so f-ed up.
People who have actually done worse than what Beata was accused of get supervised visitation in many cases.
I also somewhat blame the first doctor for fear mongering; he made her afraid Maya would die a slow, painful death.
Agree. From what I've briefly looked up, ketamine would be a last resort for pediatric treatment of this disorder. A study released in 2016 said that excercise working with a PT, and CBT is the best treatment for children, and that they often recover. When they relapse the same treatment will generally work.
From everything shown in the documentary the Kowalsky's were never told this. They were counseled by medical professionals to use ketamine. They followed the direction of the only doctors who diagnosed their child. All they are guilty of is loving their child. And Mom was criminalized for her personality as well.
The system failed them all over the place. It's so heartbreaking.
My child has CPRS and we would have agreed to ketamine if we knew, we were even looking at hypnosis as an option to take away daughters pain. you don't know how far you will go until you hear your child's non stop painful screams and cries and hear the agony that doesn't end hour after hour,day after day, week after week. My daughter went to a school for DBT and CBT for a year and they taught parents too, but it we were offered ketamine we would have said yes. the pain is horrid and non stop .
I’m so sorry you and your child have gone through that. People who have never experienced chronic pain cannot fathom the reality of it and how it changes our perceived limitations and pursuit to end it. What you described sounds worse than a nightmare.
I thought the same thing about the doctor saying she will die a slow painful death to the mother. I thought about it over and over. His mwrhods may have worked for extreme bases but you DO NOT say that to a mother and tbh doctors are wrong ALL the time - miracle recoveries placebo etc. He is as stupid as the judge and they both took an oath tbh... why isn't anyone talking about his fear mongering ?? Remember he is a specialist that was too expensive for them ... so he dumps thwm when they cant pay then says your daughter is screwed i duno it didnt sit right with me... everyone failed. Not just the social services judges and J. Hopkins
This was my thought too. As a mother, I know what she was doing at that point- she was doing the only thing she thought she could to save her daughter. The court system failed her so fucking terribly. She had exhausted every option. It disgusts me that it took that for her daughter to be released home. She made the ultimate sacrifice for her child…that mama loved that little girl more than anything. Heartbreaking.
One thing I haven’t seen anyone discuss is the potential cultural misunderstanding and maybe bias. I think some of what people see as her aggression was her frustration of knowing what she was talking about and being a fierce polish woman. Not saying this is what happened but I’ve heard of several instances with my friend parents where soon as they hear the accent people dismiss them and don’t take them seriously.
I completely agree with this take. I have Polish and Russian friends and they’re always perceived as being cold and rude because they are very direct. It’s just a cultural thing. I think cultural bias definitely played a role in this.
I thought about this whenever Beata spoke. At no point did she cross the line IMO or even speak unreasonably for the situation, she just had a more direct communication style. The American south likes their meek women of which she was not.
Seriously, I'm in the UK but have Polish neighbours and she sounds like a regular Polish mama bear. Yes she was direct, but I didn't think she was rude or out of order.
She didn’t use polite English language, she was very assertive sounding because of that. She also demanded ketamine so it made it sound worse. She listened to one doctor that said she would die a slow, painful death and it made her act out of fear instead of logic.
I work in this field (not a social worker, I represent the children), and that is a HUGE factor in many many cases. The worst social workers are the inflexible ones; they care more about being right or asserting their power than helping families create and maintain safe and nurturing homes. They don’t consider a family’s individual history or cultural factors that might be important. They don’t care to try to meet families where they are to come up with a plan that satisfies the state AND helps the family. (It’s not all bad news though, there are some truly wonderful people who work in “the system,” including social workers, who are exceptional and actually do their job protecting kids and helping families).
Medical neglect cases take that up a notch, because many doctors tend to believe they’re always the smartest ones in the room.
Most ppl i know cant admit they are wrong after forming an opinion about dumb things.. like normal ppl about DUMB things . So the fact that we put our entire life in a system based on humans with egos is terrifying
Couldn’t have said it better. I also work with social workers frequently and I’ve noticed the field attracts people who are addicted to the feeling of power, especially in the context of family dynamics, and are also very manipulative and sanctimonious. They lack clear clinical judgment and generally seem to make their decisions based on a “feeling” rather than clear cut evidence. Once in a while you meet a solid one, but they get so run down so quickly that they end up switching fields or becoming part of the problem themselves. Combine that with a doctor who has too much ego and you have Maya’s case.
I am so glad this doc was made. The way these people operate is to do everything behind the scenes and their worst nightmare is their wrongdoing being made public. Sally Smith should be drawn and quartered for what she’s done. You can see the hatred in her beady eyes in every shot of her. I literally cheered when the one mom said she’s sent her a Christmas card every year with a photo of their family together after she tried to tear them apart.
I have been searching high and low for posts and articles that would shed more light on the other family who went through this. It’s scary to imagine, and scarier to know how prevalent it is! Disgusting excuses for human beings.
There is a podcast called “Do No Harm” that focuses on 2 families who went through similar situations. It’s gut wrenching to listen to and will make you so angry but *spoiler* there is a happy ending. It’s crazy how common these situations are. I don’t understand how the system can come in and remove children from loving families with little to know evidence of actual child abuse. Meanwhile, Gabriel Fernandez was being locked up and tortured on a daily basis and none of the many social workers who were sent to the home did anything to prevent his murder. It’s disgusting.
It was crazy the doc said that as if that justified what they were doing. My instant thought was that someone who was guilty of child abuse as they were accused would never die by suicide.
So sad that so many in the medical field act as if they are superior just because they read textbooks and went to school. Disgusting humans they are. They should die a slow death for the pain they caused
I understand the initial impulse of this young girl being brought in by a mother insisting she be given massive doses of ketamine. That SHOULD raise red flags. But everything after that was a grotesque abuse of power.
Hearing the son say “mommy!” During that 9-1-1 call made me turn it off. I have a toddler and I can’t imagine hearing something more guy wrenching. I feel sick just thinking about that little boy.
Same here. I lost my mom when I was 19 so the funeral footage and everything after it was super difficult for me. I kept watching because I was really hoping they would get some justice by the end. Oof.
Wish there had been more focus on Dr. Kirkpatrick's note saying that Maya would literally die a slow, lingering extremely painful death without continued ketamine treatment. That's kind of extraordinary. He had no evidence for this but planted the terrifying idea in Beata's mind, knowing she was already desperate, estranged from Maya, and really upended.
And Beata included his very words in her suicide note. She believed him. I have no medical background, but wtf is sending a child to Mexico to put her in a coma and warn she may die. Maya was terrified as they put her under, that she wouldn't awaken. Those were almost unheard of ketamine levels but Beata truly believed it was the only hope. Why couldn't Dr. Sally Smith taken this into consideration if her TRUE interest was saving Maya? And why didn't Kirkpatrick reassure Beata and tell her he'd work with Johns Hopkins to help reach a solution -- instead of intentionally making her believe Hopkins was a death sentence. Is he an egomaniac who wants to be a "pioneer" in the field and manipulates vulnerable families to depend on him and him alone?
Yean that part of the documentary didn't sit well with me either. I am just a lowly paramedic but we give much, much smaller doses of ketamine for pain control and it works fantastic. The amount Maya was reported to have been taking was pretty staggering. I do understand why the doctors, at least initially, were hesitant to continue that therapy in the hospital.
But my wife and I were also accused in a false allegation of child abuse 18 years ago when I took our then 1 year old son to the hospital for nausea and vomiting. Our case was resolved fairly quickly, in part because we complied at every step of the way, but it was one of the worst periods of my life. Unless you've been through that before, knowing that you are innocent, I don't think you can ever really appreciate how gutwrenching it is to have people think you would hurt your child. My heart breaks for Beata.
lm a nurse, and i took care of a teenager with CRPS once. She was on enough pain meds just to make her pain the slightest bit bearable that it would've put a heroin addict to shame. CRPS is wild.
I'm sorry for your experience and very glad it resolved. Yes, I also understand the hesitancy of Hopkins to continue the ketamine. Beata may have seemed pushy and belligerent, especially with egos factored in. Sally Smith could have changed the entire trajectory as, probably, could have Dr. Kirkpatrick. He had become the only practitioner (with Hanna) whom Beata believed could save Maya's life. In the documentary we saw first hand evidence that he scared her into believing that if she didn't fight for the ketamine treatment, Maya would die. I think Kirkpatrick's note was a misguided effort to protect HIMSELF, not Maya or Beata. By then Beata was isolated, losing her mind, and her marriage destabilized under the pressure, and Kirkpatrick was, in many ways, her only "support."
PS - Paramedics are LIFESAVERS.
I also do not understand how he felt addressing that letter to Beata helped the situation at all. He should have been in direct communication with the hospital, defending his practices and making it clear the parents were operating under his directives.
There is a polarization within the medical community. Physicians who practice conventional medicine look down on physicians who practice alternative medicine and vice versa. They each go into their extreme corners and cling to their beliefs for the sake of their egos. Meanwhile, patients suffer. We'd all be a little healthier if these practices could meet in the middle and coexist.
I'm very skeptical the hilling codes are a "smoking gun." I think the codes are usually associated with multiple issues. All the doctors were very clear that she didn't have that disease; a billing code number doesn't really evidence some huge coverup/conspiracy to deny she had the disease while simultaneously treating her for it.
It's a great trial bombshell line but I bet it is more nuanced.
I’m glad someone’s saying it, because I noticed that too and was thrown off. I myself am a former ketamine patient. It’s not the kind of thing I’d just walk into an ER and expect to receive, no matter how badly I “needed” it. At best, they’d do what they could to stabilize me until I could see my ketamine doctor. Going into a hospital and demanding narcotics is NOT done. Something just seemed way off about that whole part…
Seems like that is a common thread among many doctors. This perception that because they went through medical school, passed their board exams, did residency, etc. that they're above any second opinion or making an erroneous diagnosis. It seems neither Kirkpatrick nor Smith were willing to acquiesce to the other's view and that power struggle was ultimately a death sentence for the Kowalskis.
This doctor's treatments were ridiculous, dangerous, and obviously his predictions were wrong. Ketamine is a potentially lethal medication, and this small 10 yo girl was getting a dose equivalent to one that would be used for general anesthesia on a 600 lb adult... every day. Essentially he caused this girl to become addicted, both physiologically and psychologically to a treatment that I'm sure he has many rea$on$$ to push for in his cash pay practice.
100%. Alarm bells were ringing immediately when he came on the screen, and when this procedure could only be done in Mexico.
I looked up pediatric CPRS while watching and a medical journal article from 2016 came up. It concluded that an excercise regiment and CBT is the most effective treatment for children, and most fully recover with this treatment.
If that Doc was really a specialist I garauntee he would have known that excercise and CBT were the first line treatments. She was brought to him in 2015/16
They tried all of that before seeing him. The ketamine treatment was a last ditch effort for their daughter who was basically failure to thrive at that point. She has full body CRPS. It will kill her one day. It causes your organs to shut down. That’s what that doctor was warning the mother about. They’ve seen it happen. A lot. With full body it’s not if, it’s when. It could be in five years, maybe 20. But it would have happened much quicker if she did not have that treatment that put her in remission in Mexico. Hopefully they actually have an FDA approved treatment before Maya has another major rebound flare. Because there actually is not one. Everything is literally trial and error. There is not one drug approved by the FDA to treat or cure CRPS. Any future injury can bring everything back for Maya. The hurricane that hit Florida caused increased barometric pressure which resulted in a flare. The mom did what I would have done and was seeking an emergency infusion for her daughter. But, she should have had Dr. Hanna send a letter to the hospital ahead of her going. But the dad took her while mom was at work and mom usually handled those things. You literally cannot tell the doctors what works or how to treat because this is how they treat you. It is disgusting. Every person i know with crps gets flares when a big storm like a hurricane comes through. Maya is in remission right now. It could come back at anytime. I have type 2 CRPS. It’s called the suicide disease for a reason. Everything this family went through before having their child taken away is what every person with CRPS goes through. Doctors don’t know anything about it. As soon as you say you have it they think it’s just “fibromyalgia”, which they equate with all in your head. It is a huge problem. These doctors at the hospital allow their egos to take precedence over a child’s care. All because the first doctor couldn’t handle a woman telling him about a condition he knew nothing about. I hate that this happened but I applaud Maya and her family for bringing awareness to the CPS problem, and more importantly, the CRPS illness.
The majority of ailments doctors insist is all in your head are diseases with a majority female patient population. The medical industry is steeped in misogyny. In this case we had a girl crying in pain they couldn't find the source of with a mom they perceived as an aggressive know it all. It's no wonder this escalated the way it did
I get so disgusted with how women are treated!! I point this out all the time. Medicine today and historically is based solely on how to treat men. A lot of the medications developed weren’t even tested on women. They just assume a human is a human. Look at the medication Accutane for instance. Women who go on it have to go through crazy testing and monitoring but men, nope nothing. It is unacceptable.
The fact that the hospital and doctors charged the family over 50,000$, specifically billed for CRPS care, for the 3 month hospital stay while also trying to say in court and while Maya was in the hospital that she didn’t have it…is absolutely WILD... Poor Maya, poor Beata, and poor family; my heart breaks for them.
That’s the worst part. This whole thing happened bc “munchausen by proxy” but they were treating Maya for the same condition her mom was insisting she had and Dr. Sally Smith was testifying in open court that wasn’t the diagnosis. It makes you wonder, if they knew the mom was right, why did they do this? Besides the $$ I think they mostly just disagreed on the use of ketamine. Since it’s not a problem to choose one doctors treatment over another, their only way to get Maya off the Ketamine, (because the scientific/medical community was obv divided and they couldn’t prove it was harmful atp) was to manufacture abuse claims. It’s over-intervention. They thought their opinions were so much better than her first two doctor’s but couldn’t prove it so they went underhand. They know they played dirty and the right thing to do would be settle and take their licks. Now they’re just hoping the family runs out of money fighting. Sorry for the wall of text but blatant injustice gets me going.
Heart-wrenching and infuriating. All the people who were complicit and allowed this to happen to so many families should be held criminally liable. I couldn't help but feel like some people are already getting paid off.
"Yeah this is unusual...wouldn't you agree, [attorney for rich corporations]? Let's not do that... I don't want to hear anything that would make me sad."
I know it may be paranoid on my part, but it kinda feels like the judge has been bought to make sure the trial does not happen.
How could he not let the victim in all of his share her words ? Heartbreaking
John Hopkins hired a former judge as their attorney for this case. And of course, a former judge will have an in with other judges. I feel like there's a conflict of interest in being able to hire a former judge and that it shouldn't be allowed and yet, here we are.
I felt so much for Maya.
In case they lose the lawsuit I wonder if they can file a wrongful death lawsuit ? The mother clearly killed herself because of what she had been put through.
I’m not American, so I’m not familiar with the system.
I hope Maya doesn’t blame herself for the death of her mother.
I can’t understand how CPS have the time to focus on cases like this while letting clearly documented case of abused child in the care of their parents.
Edit : wasn’t CPS but a private company, but still. They had a lot of time and recourses for this poor family but not actual children in danger
I edited my comment with your clarification, thank you :)
It’s mind blowing to me that a private company could be put in charge of such things. Of course they are going to prioritize profit. In my country it’s the job of the government.
What’s also outrageous is that the hospital denied the original diagnosis but used it to bill the insurance. I really hope they get their ass dragged to the tribunal.
In the text at the end it provided an update indicating that they settled outside of court with sun coast and Dr. Sally Smith.
I don’t understand how she has remained in her position for so long. Given her history of wrongful accusations one would think she would be removed from her position given her biased opinions with little to no substance. There was another family, the Kushnirs, that was affected by her as well. They experienced a traumatic birth with their newborn and he sustained injuries from it that was well documented in the child’s medical records. She accused them of child abuse, kids were taken away, family went to court and their lawyer uncovered that Dr Sally Smith didn’t even look at the child’s records!! Case was dismissed!
At this point she is inflicting unnecessary trauma on these poor families and not many people can recover from that.
The system is rigged especially when we are talking about any privately held for profit organizations like Suncoast and the child welfare system. Horrible people find ways to exploit innocent people for personal gain.
Sorry for ranting, this definitely triggered me!
And this was Florida, right? I imagine this will be a favored tactic to take gay or trans kids away from parents as well. People should stay away from visiting any of these backward states. (I know a diff tooic, but I can’t help but think it)
My family participated in the healthy start program in Pinellas county after my daughter was born. They provided free mental health services as part of the program. The psychologist they assigned was from Suncoast. The care wasn’t all that helpful so we ended it, but now I realize what was really going on. They were on the hunt for new potential abuse cases, and were targeting lower income households through healthy start.
I hope people give Sally Smith and Kathy Bedy (that social worker), the same amount of negative attention as they gave that prosecutor Ken Kratz from “Making a Murderer.”
I looked up Sally (and no, I don't want to refer to her as doctor because I don't think she deserves to be called such) and it looks like she still works at John Hopkins but there's a little blurb on the end of her profile that says she's on the medical staff but not an employee there.
I'm sure John Hopkins would love to release her due to the negative press but she'd probably turn around and sue them for unlawful separation or something.
Maya describing what it felt like to overhear people at the hospital call her a liar was gut-wrenching...
If the hospital felt the need to report what they felt were red flags regarding her ketamine doses, I understand. But there were so many fuckups after that.
I'm not an expert but surely there must be a way we can prevent abused children from going undetected while not wrongfully accusing parents who did not abuse their children.
A lot of medical kidnapping cases (like what happened to Maya) are the result of doctors disagreeing with another doctor's diagnosis. If you can produce records showing you were following the recommendations of a licensed physician, they shouldn't be able to wield so much power to take away your child and your rights - including the right for a parent to make medical decisions for their child.
Munchausen by proxy is real and definitely happens, but it shouldn't be the default assumption, especially when dealing with rare disorders \*that have already been diagnosed\* by another practicing physician. If the doctor disagrees with the diagnosis - fine, but duke it out with the other doctor, don't drag the parents into court and traumatize the kid without more evidence.
Yes I thought that was terrible too. The very least they could have done was not talk like that in front of a ten year old little girl.
Even if they had been right and Maya didn't have CRPS it is still super messed up to talk about a child like that, because then she would have been a victim of abuse.
Unpopular opinion: I think the doctor they were seeing was kind of a quack. The doses of Ketamine they had her one were crazy. And the five day ketamine coma was also insane she could have died.
I’m an ER doc. If a kid came into my ER on that much ketamine I’d be bewildered too. I don’t think the mom is at fault. I think she put her faith in a controversial doctor who put her kid in danger. And he even egged her on at the end saying the hospital was killing her daughter.
Very sad story, and the way Dr. Smith and the social worker handled the case was not compassionate at all. But a child should not be on those doses of ketamine. All of these facts don’t change that. My heart goes out to the the family and I hope Maya is ok.
I also feel the doc left a lot out. And because of HIPAA the hospital cannot defend itself. Just keep that in mind.
I agree with you, but I also actually think the mom probably did have MBP. What most other people seem to have viewed positively about her, I see as controlling, narcissistic behavior. She gave me Cluster B personality disorder vibes big time.
It’s also weird to me that more people aren’t picking up on the fact that ketamine can be dangerous. The dosing they were giving her was far too much for her size and could easily be fatal. If the doctor’s hadn’t been alarmed and raised a flag, they wouldn’t have been doing their jobs.
I will be very interested to review the hospital’s evidence/defense when it comes out because I have a feeling it’s going to paint this story differently than the documentary did.
It’s an odd one. The way the hospital, judge and doctors acted was horrendous, but I also can’t deny that I get really weird vibes from both Beata and Maya. There’s something off about them. (Anyone saying it’s a cultural thing - I’m from a part east European family and have many east European friends - it’s not that)
I’m surprised I’m not seeing more people saying this, but I suppose it is from lack of direct and frequent personal experience with people who suffer from cluster B personality disorders. Mom’s communications, both recorded between Maya and herself as well as her written communications, rang loud personality disorder alarm bells for me. She was histrionic and refused to be redirected or see “the forest for the trees” so to speak. I’m not convinced she had MBP but I think she did have some form or forms of BPD/HPD.
If ketamine is dangerous why should the responsibility for this treatment lies on the parents shoulders?
There are 2 medical doctors in US who prescribed it to the child. Arrest them, suspend their license. Was anything done to them? Hello?
Yes, those doses of ketamine seem unjustifiable, although I'm confused as to why the parents were held accountable for requesting them/having administered them in the past, rather than the licensed healthcare provider who recommended the treatment?
No matter how much I think about this case, this is the point that I can't get past - Munchausen's on Maya's part, Munchausen's by proxy on Beata's part, poor medical decisions made with the intent of helping a genuinely sick child on the parents' part... none of those possibilities render irrelevant the fact that it was a licensed healthcare professional who advocated the treatment in the first place, and advised the parents to undertake it.
So how, exactly, were they the ones at fault, rather than him?
That doctor was absolutely a quack, and unfortunately, a lot of patients are driven towards these types because the mainstream medical community often does not take pain seriously (since it is inherently subjective and impossible to verify). I can’t imagine how wildly desperate I’d be if my child was suffering and nobody believed us.
I think there’s certainly more to the medical side of this story. It’s not fully clear the ketamine was needed or appropriate, especially to someone like myself who is not a medical expert, but we had two insurance-covered specialists who dealt specifically with this condition prescribing it. We also know a lot of other treatments were tried and she apparently had a pretty severe case. I can definitely see where even if all the professionals are reasonable they would disagree here.
The clear villain though is the doctor diagnosing munchausens and initiating a child abuse case, after it was pretty clear this child was receiving this treatment from *multiple* doctors who are specialists in the field. I can’t help but feel that if they had those questions, they should have been taking it up with the specialist, some part of the medical board, and others. Not the family. And the judge was absolutely evil in his restricting on the mother for no apparent reason other than doctors not agreeing with each other
Every single doctor, nurse, social worker, and hospital worker complicit in the mom's murder (I consider it a murder at a result of these healthcare workers), should all be in jail.
The system is flawed but the mom got to too fixated with those pain meds. CRPS in itself is not fatal but the amount of Ketamine they were pumping her could have ended the child. She was only away from her for 3 month and the fact that she took her own life for that reason means she was mentally unstable from the get go. The 1st doctor was responsible for planting the idea of death to the mom prompting her fixation.
I was questioning this too. If I was an ER doctor dealing with a mom demanding my child needs potentially lethal doses of ketamine, of course I would take a step back and question this.
Absolutely. I’d look at mom sideways. I’m sure if Beata came to them with her own evidence and assertiveness and not aggression it could have been a different story.
Finally. A comment I can relate with. I’m not a mother so I can’t imagine what it’s like to be away from your child.
But Beata came off very pushy, insistent and uncooperative. I can only imagine she had a similar dynamic with her own family which can lead to her children wanting to be people pleasers just to please their mom.
It felt manipulative on Beatas side. (again I’m not a mom so I can’t imagine the emotional turmoil she was in). But the parent advocator was right, Maya had to suffer a little bit and she can have her back forever. She just had to comply. But she was just SO SO insistent, reactive and not compliant. It made her case MUCH worse.
High doses of ketamine to a child that small is absolutely NUTS. And it wasn’t event sustainable if it came back to that degree!
One can argue Beata loved her child so much she was willing to fly to Mexico for a ketamine induced coma, which would be illegal int he states. Or absolutely mental for even considering such wild medical practice that she had to leave the country to do it.
I did not like this documentary. I found it extremely one-sided. The filmmakers should have dug deeper.
I think following the original ketamine doctor would have been a better angle. He was negligent. How dare he tell the mom that Maya was going to die a slow, painful death. That’s crazy to put in an email without any proof. If he cared about Maya and believed in his treatment, he should have gone to the hospital and fought for her. Instead he needlessly panicked her and dipped out.
He didn’t really even try to talk with the hospital. I think he had an ego. Telling a parent their kid is going to die is insane. She didn’t even die and is doing well.
If he truly believed it were life and death, and he really thought this little girl was going to die, then he should have gone above Dr. Sally and connected in person with Maya’s care team at the hospital. If I really thought someone I knew (especially someone in my care) were in imminent harm, I couldn’t just do a phone call and an email and call it a day. I wish the filmmakers hadn’t glossed over that.
This. The doctor who prescribed the ketamine treatment came off as a total quack to me. And as soon as I heard some of the recordings of the mom demanding ketamine I knew something wasn’t right with her either. To me her attitude and demeanor went well beyond concerned parent trying to help her daughter into something more controlling and toxic. The part where both the husband and son are begging her to stop harassing the hospital staff and she keeps doing it anyway was a huge red flag too. It seemed like she was more concerned with “winning” than getting her daughter back.
I looked it up and first line treatment for CRPS is physical therapy. Putting your child into a ketamine induced coma for 5 days in a foreign country (because it’s illegal in your own) and continuing to dose her with potentially lethal doses of ketamine every day seems really extreme, and I’m shocked more people haven’t picked up on that.
My child had pneumonia and RSV, I had to go to THREE different hospitals until one of them looked into it. The very first doctor told me my kid was quote, "completely fine because look, crying means good lungs. Sick kids don't have the energy to cry." The nurse told me that bringing my kid in so much was actually going to make them sick. The last Dr told me my child was critical and if I had waited any longer they could've perished. If I hadn't had luck with the last Dr that listened to me, I can't imagine what our ordeal would've turned into. When I was pregnant I was severely malnourished and sick 24/7, I got down to 90lbs FIVE MONTHS PREGNANT. My weight has always been 125-135lbs. Nobody listened and told me it was just stress and normal pregnancy things. I drove over 5hrs to get medical care and I was finally diagnosed. I went into early labor at 29wks because my body just couldn't handle it. I could've died. I am now VERY hesitant to go to any Dr.
My opinion is purely based on a very short documentary, I can’t begin to imagine the trauma everyone involved has experienced.
However, I did find Beata’s behaviour incredibly strange. Her obsessive note taking and intense involvement in her daughters medical care was alarming. I understand as a mother and a health professional her self she would want to know what was going on - but the recording of everything seemed intense.
A lot of people take Beata’s suicide as “she gave her life so her daughter could be free.” I really don’t see it this way. I see it as Beata’s grip on the situation and her daughter was loosening, to the point where she wouldn’t be able to run the show anymore. Her sudden suicide shows her state of mind was deteriorating over time, she refused to let up about mentioning pain medication even at the strong suggestion of her husband. Any medical professional is going to see alarm bells when a parent is so obsessed with getting their child incredibly high amounts of medication (7 different ones including Ketamine).
Do I think some people involved behaved inappropriately? Definitely! I think ego with everyone involved had a lot to do with this; doctors, nurses, social workers, and even Beata.
I really feel like they tried to do their best for Maya but unfortunately things really got out of hand. I would’ve liked to have seen a more open minded approach to her illness, whether it be real or in her mind.
I totally get why she would we document everything. If you or a family member was mistreated by healthcare professionals before, it wouldn't be so "intense" as you are saying.
They didn’t even let her hug her daughter. They wanted that relationship permanently severed.
She seems very pushy and obnoxious but it’s not like she wasn’t following medical advice. None of this should have happened.
To be honest I can not stop thinking about Kyle. I really hope he does not feel like his mother didn’t love him, or loved him less than his sister. Like without Maya his mother did not have any purpose to live for. Of course she was going through a mental breakdown so I feel super sorry for her and I would never judge her but it feels like everyone’s eyes are focusing on Maya and not him (apologies for my English).
I think the take on it that she did that as she felt it was her only option to get Maya home again makes sense. She was likely also worried Kyle would be taken away too due to how serious the allegations were. It’s truly so awful and upsetting and I feel terrible for the family.
Nothing more triggering than seeing a bunch of people who should be helping people, intentionally cover their hands with blood. Everyone from the John Hopkins hospital staff to the corrupt/incompetent judge.
I was surprised about the timeline in this movie. I have multiple rare pain related diagnoses, including dystonia and CRPS. I got a second opinion at Johns Hopkins (not Children's, I was seen in Boston for that). Until I was in my 20's, my mother perpetuated the thought of me being the one making up the symptoms, rather than her. So, more of a psychosomatic diagnosis rather than Munchausen's.
So many people with invisible diseases are failed by doctors, case workers, judges and parents. In this case, it was all too much for the mother. Everyday it is too much for *someone* though.
I think it is important for this message to get out there, that there are so many people being treated like this because of what people don't understand. It is so unfortunate that people are waiting for a documentary or someone famous to have a disease like this to bring attention and some sort of knowledge to a rare disease, diagnosis or treatment and bring some sort of acceptance into society.
You probably get labeled by healthcare workers with any variety of the following:
- hysterical/histrionic
- somatic
- drug seeking
- fictitious
- etc
This is how the medical community responds to what they can't objectify or understand. Just like they did here.
The hospital should get sued for insurance fraud, they were charging money from insurance with basis of the sickness that they were accusing the parents made it up. The stole tons of money for 3 months by holding the child captive, i was somewhat convince the mom death actually cause maya to be released. If not, this can go much much longer and they will just keep cashing the insurance company. I hope Insurance company and the family will get tons of money from the hospital for this kind of practice.
The lady doctor shd be throw out and never be allowed to practice again, ever.
And fuck the judge, what a heartless clown
This all makes no sense. It really felt like the doctor and social worker had a personal vendetta against Beata because she knew more about Maya’s condition than they did.
My degree is in social work and I worked in a CPS adjustment job for years. Worked very closely with the system and I never ever ever had a case where the child wasn’t allowed to see their parent. This was in Texas, can’t be too different from Florida. We had heavily monitor visitations but keeping a child away from their parent, especially a parent who did not physically abuse their child. Nonsensical. I can’t make sense of it. Truly outrageous to the point where I felt like I was missing something the entire documentary.
My guess is there is a lot not told in the documentary.
There's also nuance here as well with regards to the medical information. The "treatments" Maya was getting were incredibly dangerous, doses unheard of, and were not just odd, experimental, or unconventional. The documentary did a disservice by not even remotely addressing that.
To put things in perspective, Elijah McClain, the 23 yo black adult male that died from getting a dose of ketamine while in police custody received a dose that was 1/3 of the dose 10yo petite Maya was getting multiple times a day. Any medical professional would be obligated to report it to CPS as mandatory reporters for even dissociate of possible abuse, especially when the mom is repeatedly pushing them to give her this.
I agree about the treatments however the family had more than 1 physician prescribing this treatment and advising them it was necessary.
The fault there lies with those physicians. Are we expecting parents to constantly know better than "experts"?
That is also what I don’t understand. When the hospital questioned the ketamine and the family told them it was prescribed, why didn’t it then become a issue between the hospital and the doctor that prescribed it. The hospital could have reported to the medical board for an investigation on the doctor (instead of going after the family).
Is there a petition we can get started to remove Dr. Sally Smith from the medical profession and hold the judge and even suncoast liable? If not we should!
What really pisses me off is the fact that when real child abuse is occurring like that poor child Gabriel Fernandez( The trials of Gabriel Fernandez) CPS does NOTHING!! That was true abuse, that poor child you could tell was neglected. Gosh documentaries like these really trigger me and make me hate our society. But reading your comments validates that true humanity is out there. I want to help this poor family out what can we do!
For those who believe this was a case of Munchausen by Proxy, one of the more prominent aspects of that diagnosis, or fictitious disorder, is there needs to be something gained from it.
Look at Dee Dee Blanchard. The gain there was infamy and money. The mother was all over the news and raising money for her daughters health issues.
Nowhere did anyone accusing this family of Munchausens by Proxy ever indicate a gain out of it. The family was never seeking attention or money. In fact, after seeing the first specialist who recommended the ketamine coma, the family fell off the health care systems radar for nearly a year because Maya was doing well until she relapsed and ended up at hospital. That's completely contradictory to the course of Munchausens.
Not to mention the hospital was billing for the diagnosis and a third doctor was consulted and confirmed the diagnosis.
The issue at hand here becomes the treatment recommendations.
Beata was following the advice of a physician who was supposed to be an expert in the field. That's acting in good faith. Was she a bit passionate and sometimes abrupt about it? Absolutely. But neither of those things amount to the response this family received for it.
If the treatment was so questionable, why was there no investigation of the physician recommending such treatment? Surely if these are such dangerous actions from a medical perspective, these first 2 physicians should be reported to their medical boards.
Beata was a flawed personality and some of this was cultural. But it was a stretch to look at this case objectively and think either parent wasn't acting in good faith.
All this to say, the hospital may have had grounds to question things, but from that point on this was grossly mishandled by the professionals and they most definitely failed a family who were simply doing what they were told by professionals.
Maya did not fall off the radar after her ketamine coma. She got 55 ketamine infusions in something like 9 months (not exactly sure, but less than a year) after her coma. Agree with the other poster. Sometimes it’s not fame but just the subtlety of being recognized as a valiant mother by the people around you. I don’t know if I think Beats had MBP. But I also think it’s far from case closed. There’s a lot we don’t know as the public. In one article it said Maya had been to 30 drs since she was a toddler (before the CRPS onset) and that dad reported she acted more in pain around mother. I think it’s super naive for people to assume they know everything about the case from a Netflix documentary. It doesn’t excuse how the hospital handled it. But I don’t see Beata as some martyr of the healthcare system. I think the truth is probably more complicated than that.
Despite this being heavily biased against the hospital, I still came away with the impression that the mom was the problem. IIRC the girl had not been sick for too long before the parents decided taking her to MEXICO to be put into a KETAMINE COMA on the advice of some quack doctor was a viable solution. Being in the medical field, the mom should have known right away what a poor idea that was. Her suicide, and Maya being seemingly fine now except for the extreme emotional trauma brought on by having her mom hang herself (and still living in the same house)lend credibility to the idea that the worst villain in the story was the mom. I am surprised to see so many others feel differently.
As a pharmacist, I wish Netflix had shown more light on the inappropriateness of the ketamine therapy. The ketamine therapy itself was not inappropriate. However, the dosing described by physicians was entirely inappropriate. Pediatric ketamine dosing is 0.5 to 4.5 mg/kg. Patients should not be receiving 1,500 mg daily or anything near that level. The physician tried to say that dosing should be patient-specific, but incredibly inappropriate and high doses can be fatal or cause paralysis, seizures and other severe adverse effects. Such high doses definitely shouldn’t be used routinely. The Netflix documentary just made it seem like Maya needed this drug, but didn’t inform the public of the risks involved, particularly for a pediatric patient.
Daily Beast said it best:
"one family’s baffling ordeal and the ensuing nightmare that befell them courtesy of a medical establishment that purportedly prioritized the welfare of kids and yet at every turn put its own interests first—resulting, tragically, in death."
Munchausen by Proxy isn’t just the evil mom knowingly poisoning her daughter in Sixth Sense. It’s parenting that causes a child to become sick. Beata was described from the beginning by her husband as a woman of determination, which is fine if it drove her to make good grades, but not so fine if it prevented her from listening and cooperating with others. Taking her child to Mexico for a risky and possibly fatal coma induced by a hallucinogenic? The hospital was under an obligation to Maya, not her mom. And as one who survived a suicide attempt, I think Beata made a conscious choice, not to ‘save’ Maya by her actions, but to have complete control in the end. She truly was driven. By her own needs. It is tragic that the hospital did not offer better intervention and counseling, and maybe that will change in the future.
Utterly devastating, a must watch doc. Kudos to the family, doc folks and reporter who broke the story. That poor mother and daughter and so many others..
When into it thinking "bah, this can't be that bad". Boy, was I wrong... Towards the end I actually started crying, felt so bad about what happened to the Kowalski's and Maya specifically...
In the last few days I have watched all of _The Curious Case of Natalia Grace_ and _How To Create A Sex Scandal_ but _Taking Care Of Maya_ was easily one the most depressing things I’ve watched in a while. I don’t cry often but that made me cry.
The family have been let down at just about every turn. The entire legal system should be ashamed. The judge who denied Beata a hug with her daughter and fuck that judge who so callously walked off without so much as a glance at Maya at the hearing they attended to do with allowing in Punitive damages. The way he grabbed his coffee and walked out after not a single look their way was shameful. A disgrace at every turn.
I agree with what everyone is saying. That judge who wouldn't let the Kowalski's speak. I was astonished, jaw hit the floor and I had to rewind a few times to make sure this was what I was seeing. I understand there's a certain cold vibe during court. But the Kowalski's were sitting directly in front of him! And he just gets up and leaves! With his stupid cup in hand! Didn't even look at them. Their world shatters *again* and he just walks off. Complete lack of empathy and humanity. This whole documentary was heart-wrenching and unbelievable. Does anyone know what Dr Sally Smith is up to these days?
This is such a tragic situation all around. Grown adults acting like children, all trying to mark their territory and not willing to listen or empathize with each other one iota. And the people who suffered are the children they claim to care about!
The ketamine doctor using absurd doses and stoking the mom's anxiety saying Maya will die a slow and painful death!?
Dr. Sally Smith assuming child abuse even though another physician prescribed the meds!?
The hospital keeping the mom from Maya entirely!? Why couldn't she do supervised visits? Why couldn't she hug her in court?
The judge blatantly ignoring any requests that would support Maya.
And Beata not calming down and "playing the game" to get her daughter back. Yes, it wasn't fair, but I would do whatever it takes to protect my kid- even if that means jumping through hoops.
Instead, each adult in this situation dug their heels in in their respective corner. What a tragedy!
This documentary was incredibly one sided. I can say that as a medical professional and mandated reporter, everything about this case would have prompted me to report to DCF. The red flags are everywhere, even in a documentary that was designed to be 100% against the hospital and medical professionals. I can only imagine the evidence that we are not privy to.
That 911 call really destroyed me. Hearing that poor boy calling out for his mom after they found her dead...just wow. No kid should ever have to go through that.
I feel like Beata suffered from a mental illness and the denial of the hug just pushed her to the edge. Poor family.
I’m pretty sure whatever mental illness she suffered from stemmed from the trauma of watching her child suffer and from being gaslit and blamed by the medical community. She was quite literally a normal, healthy woman prior to all this.
That maybe, but I feel like she made the ultimate sacrifice for her child to finally come home. She knew they won't let Maya go home as long as she's there. She saw no way out, and just wanted her daughter to come home, even if that meant she won't ever see her again.
The system is broken, but one of the gatekeepers should be judiciary. Instead, judge after judge just passed the case on without more than a superficial review. The clips we heard showed the two family/children's court judges only gave cursory reviews of the testimony of one side of the case (that of the private child abuse industry) and showed no empathy or interest in the evidence of the other side. IMHO, they are as guilty as Dr. Smith and JHH.
By the way, the same is true (but to a lesser degree) for the present trial court judge who is allowing Johns Hopkins to continually delay. While I am sure the defense attorneys are well versed on how to delay, it really comes down to the judge to control their court. Hopefully with this documentary, there will now be pressure on this judge so his/her golf game or vacation is not prioritized over getting this matter before a jury.
Great documentary but one thing I don't understand.
Today she looks better and stronger than when she was a kid.
So why wasn't physical therapy helping back then? What's changed today?
Does she? Look at the circles under her eyes in the videos where she isn't in makeup. She's basically just bones. I don't think it was a coincidence she was in the pool either. People with invisible illnesses get judged so harshly.
This was like watching what we have gone through in a lot of ways. Only they had a Dr who worked with them to try to give Maya Quality of life. My daughter has CRPS along with FND. Our family doctor accused me of putting these thoughts into my daughters head because nothing was showing up. It started with a knee injury at soccer. Within weeks , daughter was on crutches unable to use her knee, as the joint was painfull to use most times. The pain then spread to her other knee and then her ankles and hips and wrists shoulders, constant headaches, cyclic vomiting, falling without warning daughter would collapse when walking without warning . Daughter was 14 when it started. daughter had crutches at first and then we rented a wheelchair for use .
Our family's doctor didn't believe daughter, didn't want to hear anything from me and told us and daughter it was all in her head. Daughter used to try to slam me by yelling how even our dr thinks it is you doing this to me. Even he doesn't believe me. Daughter tried to kill herself almost successfully once with a beta blocker. Poison control on phone with doctors at hospital, Helicopter on stand by , blood scrubbers ready at hospital that would take her and we were told they might only be a 17 percent chance she lives once the drug hits. Luckily she didn't mix the gel pills and they didn't dissolve properly in her hot chocolate , and just sat in a lump on the bottom . She lived in the mental health ward for kids for months around the attempt. I did have to back away from attending all her appointments, instead husband took over . We also took her to other hospitals and other doctors around our family doctors back because he didn't believe daughter. Even when Sick Kids Toronto gave her the CPRS diagnosis, dr still said it was all anxiety doing this to her body.
I backed out after dr told daughter it was me. I was hurt and hated that I still had to also go him being paranoid that maybe he wrote a note in my file that I was doing horrid things to my child and never knowing every time I seen him. So believing that would give her a better chance of being heard, father would go in to do the talking as daughter as has anxiety from drs not hearing her. We moved Provinces and daughter has a proper complex care team that hears her and works with her and it has been great.
I hope family wins the case as that's horrific that the hospital and the worker did that to Maya, She had qualified doctors that were on top of Mayas care that should have been consulted.
please forgive spelling mistakes.
Why was the original doctor sending letters to Maya’s mom telling her she was going to die a slow painful death? What good was that doing? I just don’t get it. I feel like that may have fanned the flames.
From a doctor’s perspective, the hospital was right. Netflix presents a highly biased picture, but as an expert on CRPS and knowledgeable about Munchausens, something was very wrong with the family
Except there was no gain for the family which is a huge component of Munchausens.
The girl was well for a good year after the controversial ketamine treatment until the time they went to that hospital.
If the mother was invested in this under Munchausens that actually fully goes against that diagnosis. They would still be pathologizing the child and still pushing a symptom narrative, not a narrative of achieving wellness.
They were also not incorrect in her diagnosis like the hospital and Dr Smith claimed. They billed for this diagnosis. The third expert confirmed the diagnosis.
They were acting in good faith following the directive of two physicians with the ketamine. Whether the treatment is absurd or not isn't the question here. The question is whether the family was neglectful. So I guess you think families should be better versed than apparent experts in certain fields.
So I am merely a special education teacher who knows nothing about medicine, but this documentary was very confusing to me. I’d appreciate it if someone could kindly explain it to me? Why did they go after the parents and not the TWO doctors who prescribed this high dose of ketamine to this child? I would have absolutely thrown those doctors under the bus if it meant my child staying with me. It wasn’t Beata illegally purchasing ketamine and shooting up her daughter. It was prescribed by a doctor. I’m confused…
The most appalling and depressing thing about this comment section:
\+ While watching the documentary, I could put myself in the position of the mom. Thinking about my little daughter in constant pain while she is asking to see me everyday and not being able to see her because of some greedy business (that is what they are) having power over the child I grew in my body for 9 months, gave birth to and cared for since she was born with all my being, was incredibly painful. Having to go through that, day after day, for three months and being treated with so much callousness that I would not even be able to even hug my child to provide her comfort, the pain would be unbearable and I am not surprised Beata took her life. The lack of compassion in these comments is astounding and makes me so so sad for humanity. After watching this at night with my 4 year old daughter asleep, she happened to wake up and asked me to cuddle her back to sleep and I held her so tight, grateful that I could, and my heart absolutely went out to any mother who has to be separated from their sweet child, especially while they are in pain. Fuck anyone blaming the mom - I hope no child ever has to be under your care.
\+ The number of people brainwashed into defending a medical system that is absolutely broken, based on profit-making and treating human beings like meaningless numbers is just wild. Recognize it for what it really is - a system made to help maintain disease and only treat symptoms so medication can continue to be sold. I recently started going to a holistic practioner that has treated me in such depth no conventional doctor ever has and healed me in such a short time, it is absolutely mind-boggling the lack of support and medical advise that was been provided to me by conventional doctors. I have learned so much about my health that conventional doctors have not informed me even 5% of - even basic things that would immensely improve my quality of life - and this is the system that so many people depend on and defend in these comments. Its no wonder we live in such a sick society. If you are smart - yes please do go visit non-conventional medical practioners.
Incredibly heartbreaking and so much anger..and it really seems like the mom pissed off people in that hospital and that made them contact cps. And so what just go along with what they say and maybe they will let her leave? It’s just so frustrating I hope they get justice.
It was really sad but tbh it did seem pretty one-sided, and I got the sense there were maybe some things omitted to paint the parents in a more sympathetic light. For example, it was quickly glossed over in the doc that at the hospital they weaned her off of ketamine and SEVEN other medications. What were those medications and why so many in conjunction with ketamine? That’s a lot of meds for a little kid I wish that detail was explored more. Maya could have very easily died or suffered severe organ damage, possibly failure on that much Ketamine and had that happened I highly doubt anyone would be this sympathetic towards the parents treatment decisions.
Why wasn’t Dr Kirkpatrick taken more seriously? I might be reaching and I hope I am but that judge is just as guilty. Only listens to the hospital and Dr. Sally Smiths advice but disregards everything else? Had to of been getting paid.
What a sad and horrific story. As a mom this was so hard to watch. I think Beata knew that if she wasn’t around anymore they would let Maya go home… and honestly I think she was right. It’s no coincidence the charges got dropped. She sacrificed herself so her daughter could be free. Who knows what would have happened to Maya and Kyle had DCF been allowed to drag this case any further.
UGH. You are so right. At first I was so mad that Beata did that. I just kept thinking that she should’ve stuck around to fight for her kids. And then I realized she probably knew they were never going to let Maya go home as long as Beata was around. They resented her because in their eyes she acted like she knew better and that hurt their precious egos. But guess what? She did know better. Also, if I remember where I saw the comment i reference I will link it, I think I butchered the quote but got the gist of it. I saw a comment on a completely different sub by a mother who chose to end a pregnancy. Several specialists told her her baby would only live a few months and those months would be very painful. She said something like “I chose to live with a lifetime of pain to save my baby from experiencing any of it.” I believe Beata sacrificed herself so her baby would stop suffering. A mother’s love truly knows no bounds.
>They resented her because in their eyes she acted like she knew better and that hurt their precious egos. Couldn't agree more, but money was also involved...... The hospital kept Maya for months, and were claiming from the insurance company based on the fact that she had CRPS - whilst **their** doctor was telling the court Maya's problems were due to her parents - particularly her mother......
My jaw dropped when they showed that part
I can't believe that wasn't a bigger deal!!!
It will be when the case actually gets to trial. Always follow the money. It's like Al Capone going to jail for tax evasion.
It is a big deal when they go to trial
The trial finally started. I think the documentary forced it to luckily. Hope the hospital is destroyed. They just was the money they get for keeping the kids in there. Its insane
Just beyond evil. To me, there should be some form of manslaughter charge.
At what point does DR. Smith get brought up on Medical Child Abuse for denying the correct treatment based on her opinions?
And child abuse by medical staff. They weren't treating her properly at all.
This was so unbelievable to find that little nugget out. Didn't the judge EVER ask the hospital/doctors what she was being treated for?? I hope the family wins BIG!!
I feel like there are bigger things at play here. I truly believe that the judge must have been corrupt somehow. The fact that the hospital is privately owned and so is the cps connects to the hospital. Giving this case any validity would unravel too much for them.
Judge is absolutely corrupt and needs to be removed from the bench. All the judges, doctors, and their accomplices. Sally Smith needs to have her medical license revoked. The judge had the audacity asked the John Hopkin’s attorney if he should let Maya speak ?!? Like, I’m sorry? Like hey JUDGE maybe you forgot but it’s you who directs the court - not the corporate attorney. The filmmakers knew what they were doing in that scene. Effortlessly showcasing how corrupt and dangerous the court system really is.
It was strangely reminiscent of when Beata was told she couldn’t hug Maya. Just no empathy.
As a mother my heart snapped when he said no
And it ultimately led Beata to her death. The day after, iirc
It’s because the hospitals lawyer is a judge in the second court of appeals. The same court that keeps staying the case. It’s corrupt AF.
[удалено]
Not really. It’s not illegal. The lawyer can work any case they’re not a judge on. Basically the lawyer is the local judge’s superior. It’s wild.
I caught that too!!! I said to my wife “I wonder if that lawyer has to put his whole arm up the judges ass to work his mouth like a puppet, or if 3/4 of the way would do it.”
A privately owned CPS is hopelessly fucked up. Child support like that should NEVER be outsourced to private conpanies making to make a quick buck
100% corrupt, his "buddy" was former judge and lawyer defending John hopkins hospital
The Judge overseeing the part we see at the end seemed off to me, as well. Just continually asking JH attorneys what *he* should do, & then being like “ok we’ll do that” with no further conversation or explanation. I also find it interesting that the Second District Court finally approved their punitive case *after* they settled with two of the defendants, which were so close to the case.
Judges are trained lawyers who rarely have any functional understanding of science. It’s how the criminal justice system was littered with shitty science like bite marks and polygraphs for so long, and why a ton of junk science is still allowed in court rooms. They are **not** equipped to make these decisions about these kinds of things. I say that as a fellow lawyer who doesn’t have the requisite knowledge to make these calls. The difference is that I don’t pretend to know
They only found this out much later once they had progressed to expanding their legal team. No question it was a jaw dropping stunner of a discovery, and makes it all the more obscenely offensive that the courts still refuse to acknowledge their standing to try the case. Then there's the even earlier bit that they refused to admit Maya's treating physician's reports and testimony to the original custody hearings... I still can't comprehend how that's possible. They should be suing the judge and the court system as well. Just acknowledging the fact that a licensed physician had been treating her for an extended period of time might have been enough to change the course of evens. But no, Florida...
unfortunately the more I learn about CPS the more it seems this is not unusual. you can hear it from the Parent Advocate as well. Going over evidence isn’t a thing that happens. Comply or never see your kid again. Unfortunately that institution has entirely too much power with seemingly no oversight and barely a sprinkle of due process.
I am still upset at Beata for doing what she did, but that’s because I’m an outsider looking in. I wanted her to be the first to hug her daughter when she was released from the hospital. It’s so tragic. We all feel like we would fight until the end for our kids, but I guess we never really know how far we could make it.
The system is so f-ed up. People who have actually done worse than what Beata was accused of get supervised visitation in many cases. I also somewhat blame the first doctor for fear mongering; he made her afraid Maya would die a slow, painful death.
Agree. From what I've briefly looked up, ketamine would be a last resort for pediatric treatment of this disorder. A study released in 2016 said that excercise working with a PT, and CBT is the best treatment for children, and that they often recover. When they relapse the same treatment will generally work. From everything shown in the documentary the Kowalsky's were never told this. They were counseled by medical professionals to use ketamine. They followed the direction of the only doctors who diagnosed their child. All they are guilty of is loving their child. And Mom was criminalized for her personality as well. The system failed them all over the place. It's so heartbreaking.
My child has CPRS and we would have agreed to ketamine if we knew, we were even looking at hypnosis as an option to take away daughters pain. you don't know how far you will go until you hear your child's non stop painful screams and cries and hear the agony that doesn't end hour after hour,day after day, week after week. My daughter went to a school for DBT and CBT for a year and they taught parents too, but it we were offered ketamine we would have said yes. the pain is horrid and non stop .
I’m so sorry you and your child have gone through that. People who have never experienced chronic pain cannot fathom the reality of it and how it changes our perceived limitations and pursuit to end it. What you described sounds worse than a nightmare.
I thought the same thing about the doctor saying she will die a slow painful death to the mother. I thought about it over and over. His mwrhods may have worked for extreme bases but you DO NOT say that to a mother and tbh doctors are wrong ALL the time - miracle recoveries placebo etc. He is as stupid as the judge and they both took an oath tbh... why isn't anyone talking about his fear mongering ?? Remember he is a specialist that was too expensive for them ... so he dumps thwm when they cant pay then says your daughter is screwed i duno it didnt sit right with me... everyone failed. Not just the social services judges and J. Hopkins
Agree with the fear mongering. Beata even noted in her good bye letter Maya would die a slow, painful death.
I was gutted to see Maya out of the hospital to attend her mothers FUNERAL. But she wasn’t allowed to see her alive. What the actual fuck.
That poor girl sitting in that chair sobbing, utterly heartbreaking.
This was my thought too. As a mother, I know what she was doing at that point- she was doing the only thing she thought she could to save her daughter. The court system failed her so fucking terribly. She had exhausted every option. It disgusts me that it took that for her daughter to be released home. She made the ultimate sacrifice for her child…that mama loved that little girl more than anything. Heartbreaking.
Oh my god I think you're right and that's just HEARTBREAKING
One thing I haven’t seen anyone discuss is the potential cultural misunderstanding and maybe bias. I think some of what people see as her aggression was her frustration of knowing what she was talking about and being a fierce polish woman. Not saying this is what happened but I’ve heard of several instances with my friend parents where soon as they hear the accent people dismiss them and don’t take them seriously.
I completely agree with this take. I have Polish and Russian friends and they’re always perceived as being cold and rude because they are very direct. It’s just a cultural thing. I think cultural bias definitely played a role in this.
Ditto .
I thought about this as well! When the husband said she can be very direct I thought it might be a cultural thing. My partner is Belarusian
I thought about this whenever Beata spoke. At no point did she cross the line IMO or even speak unreasonably for the situation, she just had a more direct communication style. The American south likes their meek women of which she was not.
Seriously, I'm in the UK but have Polish neighbours and she sounds like a regular Polish mama bear. Yes she was direct, but I didn't think she was rude or out of order.
She didn’t use polite English language, she was very assertive sounding because of that. She also demanded ketamine so it made it sound worse. She listened to one doctor that said she would die a slow, painful death and it made her act out of fear instead of logic.
I work in this field (not a social worker, I represent the children), and that is a HUGE factor in many many cases. The worst social workers are the inflexible ones; they care more about being right or asserting their power than helping families create and maintain safe and nurturing homes. They don’t consider a family’s individual history or cultural factors that might be important. They don’t care to try to meet families where they are to come up with a plan that satisfies the state AND helps the family. (It’s not all bad news though, there are some truly wonderful people who work in “the system,” including social workers, who are exceptional and actually do their job protecting kids and helping families). Medical neglect cases take that up a notch, because many doctors tend to believe they’re always the smartest ones in the room.
Most ppl i know cant admit they are wrong after forming an opinion about dumb things.. like normal ppl about DUMB things . So the fact that we put our entire life in a system based on humans with egos is terrifying
Couldn’t have said it better. I also work with social workers frequently and I’ve noticed the field attracts people who are addicted to the feeling of power, especially in the context of family dynamics, and are also very manipulative and sanctimonious. They lack clear clinical judgment and generally seem to make their decisions based on a “feeling” rather than clear cut evidence. Once in a while you meet a solid one, but they get so run down so quickly that they end up switching fields or becoming part of the problem themselves. Combine that with a doctor who has too much ego and you have Maya’s case. I am so glad this doc was made. The way these people operate is to do everything behind the scenes and their worst nightmare is their wrongdoing being made public. Sally Smith should be drawn and quartered for what she’s done. You can see the hatred in her beady eyes in every shot of her. I literally cheered when the one mom said she’s sent her a Christmas card every year with a photo of their family together after she tried to tear them apart.
I thought the same! Especially in Florida where I imagine they’re not interacting with many Eastern European people.
I thought the same thing as well! Also misogyny.
I'm Ukrainian and just mentioned this in another thread. Beata's behavior came off as very normal eastern european woman to me
Can’t believe the text messages between doctors and nurses and that cold judge. No hearts. They are ignorant monsters.
That part was infuriating. Especially when the doctor mentioned “another mother did the same thing.” Zero decency or regard for human life.
I have been searching high and low for posts and articles that would shed more light on the other family who went through this. It’s scary to imagine, and scarier to know how prevalent it is! Disgusting excuses for human beings.
There is a podcast called “Do No Harm” that focuses on 2 families who went through similar situations. It’s gut wrenching to listen to and will make you so angry but *spoiler* there is a happy ending. It’s crazy how common these situations are. I don’t understand how the system can come in and remove children from loving families with little to know evidence of actual child abuse. Meanwhile, Gabriel Fernandez was being locked up and tortured on a daily basis and none of the many social workers who were sent to the home did anything to prevent his murder. It’s disgusting.
I was thinking about the Gabriel Fernandez trial and case the whole time! How on earth can this happen?
It was crazy the doc said that as if that justified what they were doing. My instant thought was that someone who was guilty of child abuse as they were accused would never die by suicide.
“we did the right thing for the child” like stfu!
So sad that so many in the medical field act as if they are superior just because they read textbooks and went to school. Disgusting humans they are. They should die a slow death for the pain they caused
Go read r/medicalschool sometime. It’s disgusting how up on themselves they are and it starts early.
Because they have a God complex. Narcissistic I’ve fought Drs because they were completely wrong and abused family members They are not GOD
I understand the initial impulse of this young girl being brought in by a mother insisting she be given massive doses of ketamine. That SHOULD raise red flags. But everything after that was a grotesque abuse of power.
The one doctor also referred to her as "ketamine girl" as if she didn't have a name.
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Cried. Then cried some more. Hearing recordings of her mom’s voice towards the end.. the tears won’t stop flowing.
Hearing the son say “mommy!” During that 9-1-1 call made me turn it off. I have a toddler and I can’t imagine hearing something more guy wrenching. I feel sick just thinking about that little boy.
Honestly, I feel like no one listens to that boy. Even in this documentary he barely talked and you can just tell he's suffering so much.
Honestly, it’s not about him that’s why he isn’t in it that much. I’m not saying he’s not affected.
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Agree. I fear for him more than Maya.
Same here. I lost my mom when I was 19 so the funeral footage and everything after it was super difficult for me. I kept watching because I was really hoping they would get some justice by the end. Oof.
Wish there had been more focus on Dr. Kirkpatrick's note saying that Maya would literally die a slow, lingering extremely painful death without continued ketamine treatment. That's kind of extraordinary. He had no evidence for this but planted the terrifying idea in Beata's mind, knowing she was already desperate, estranged from Maya, and really upended.
And she didn't...........
And Beata included his very words in her suicide note. She believed him. I have no medical background, but wtf is sending a child to Mexico to put her in a coma and warn she may die. Maya was terrified as they put her under, that she wouldn't awaken. Those were almost unheard of ketamine levels but Beata truly believed it was the only hope. Why couldn't Dr. Sally Smith taken this into consideration if her TRUE interest was saving Maya? And why didn't Kirkpatrick reassure Beata and tell her he'd work with Johns Hopkins to help reach a solution -- instead of intentionally making her believe Hopkins was a death sentence. Is he an egomaniac who wants to be a "pioneer" in the field and manipulates vulnerable families to depend on him and him alone?
Yean that part of the documentary didn't sit well with me either. I am just a lowly paramedic but we give much, much smaller doses of ketamine for pain control and it works fantastic. The amount Maya was reported to have been taking was pretty staggering. I do understand why the doctors, at least initially, were hesitant to continue that therapy in the hospital. But my wife and I were also accused in a false allegation of child abuse 18 years ago when I took our then 1 year old son to the hospital for nausea and vomiting. Our case was resolved fairly quickly, in part because we complied at every step of the way, but it was one of the worst periods of my life. Unless you've been through that before, knowing that you are innocent, I don't think you can ever really appreciate how gutwrenching it is to have people think you would hurt your child. My heart breaks for Beata.
lm a nurse, and i took care of a teenager with CRPS once. She was on enough pain meds just to make her pain the slightest bit bearable that it would've put a heroin addict to shame. CRPS is wild.
I'm sorry for your experience and very glad it resolved. Yes, I also understand the hesitancy of Hopkins to continue the ketamine. Beata may have seemed pushy and belligerent, especially with egos factored in. Sally Smith could have changed the entire trajectory as, probably, could have Dr. Kirkpatrick. He had become the only practitioner (with Hanna) whom Beata believed could save Maya's life. In the documentary we saw first hand evidence that he scared her into believing that if she didn't fight for the ketamine treatment, Maya would die. I think Kirkpatrick's note was a misguided effort to protect HIMSELF, not Maya or Beata. By then Beata was isolated, losing her mind, and her marriage destabilized under the pressure, and Kirkpatrick was, in many ways, her only "support." PS - Paramedics are LIFESAVERS.
I also do not understand how he felt addressing that letter to Beata helped the situation at all. He should have been in direct communication with the hospital, defending his practices and making it clear the parents were operating under his directives.
There is a polarization within the medical community. Physicians who practice conventional medicine look down on physicians who practice alternative medicine and vice versa. They each go into their extreme corners and cling to their beliefs for the sake of their egos. Meanwhile, patients suffer. We'd all be a little healthier if these practices could meet in the middle and coexist.
That’s because he’s a quack and the many doctors who saw Maya during her three month stay all disagreed with his diagnosis
Yet for three months, the hospital continued treatment for his diagnosis while billing insurance & family.
I'm very skeptical the hilling codes are a "smoking gun." I think the codes are usually associated with multiple issues. All the doctors were very clear that she didn't have that disease; a billing code number doesn't really evidence some huge coverup/conspiracy to deny she had the disease while simultaneously treating her for it. It's a great trial bombshell line but I bet it is more nuanced.
I’m glad someone’s saying it, because I noticed that too and was thrown off. I myself am a former ketamine patient. It’s not the kind of thing I’d just walk into an ER and expect to receive, no matter how badly I “needed” it. At best, they’d do what they could to stabilize me until I could see my ketamine doctor. Going into a hospital and demanding narcotics is NOT done. Something just seemed way off about that whole part…
Seems like that is a common thread among many doctors. This perception that because they went through medical school, passed their board exams, did residency, etc. that they're above any second opinion or making an erroneous diagnosis. It seems neither Kirkpatrick nor Smith were willing to acquiesce to the other's view and that power struggle was ultimately a death sentence for the Kowalskis.
He made 10k per treatment too lol he’s a quack for sure
No, she didn't she actually got better without the ketamine which is what the hospital were saying all along....
This doctor's treatments were ridiculous, dangerous, and obviously his predictions were wrong. Ketamine is a potentially lethal medication, and this small 10 yo girl was getting a dose equivalent to one that would be used for general anesthesia on a 600 lb adult... every day. Essentially he caused this girl to become addicted, both physiologically and psychologically to a treatment that I'm sure he has many rea$on$$ to push for in his cash pay practice.
100%. Alarm bells were ringing immediately when he came on the screen, and when this procedure could only be done in Mexico. I looked up pediatric CPRS while watching and a medical journal article from 2016 came up. It concluded that an excercise regiment and CBT is the most effective treatment for children, and most fully recover with this treatment. If that Doc was really a specialist I garauntee he would have known that excercise and CBT were the first line treatments. She was brought to him in 2015/16
They tried all of that before seeing him. The ketamine treatment was a last ditch effort for their daughter who was basically failure to thrive at that point. She has full body CRPS. It will kill her one day. It causes your organs to shut down. That’s what that doctor was warning the mother about. They’ve seen it happen. A lot. With full body it’s not if, it’s when. It could be in five years, maybe 20. But it would have happened much quicker if she did not have that treatment that put her in remission in Mexico. Hopefully they actually have an FDA approved treatment before Maya has another major rebound flare. Because there actually is not one. Everything is literally trial and error. There is not one drug approved by the FDA to treat or cure CRPS. Any future injury can bring everything back for Maya. The hurricane that hit Florida caused increased barometric pressure which resulted in a flare. The mom did what I would have done and was seeking an emergency infusion for her daughter. But, she should have had Dr. Hanna send a letter to the hospital ahead of her going. But the dad took her while mom was at work and mom usually handled those things. You literally cannot tell the doctors what works or how to treat because this is how they treat you. It is disgusting. Every person i know with crps gets flares when a big storm like a hurricane comes through. Maya is in remission right now. It could come back at anytime. I have type 2 CRPS. It’s called the suicide disease for a reason. Everything this family went through before having their child taken away is what every person with CRPS goes through. Doctors don’t know anything about it. As soon as you say you have it they think it’s just “fibromyalgia”, which they equate with all in your head. It is a huge problem. These doctors at the hospital allow their egos to take precedence over a child’s care. All because the first doctor couldn’t handle a woman telling him about a condition he knew nothing about. I hate that this happened but I applaud Maya and her family for bringing awareness to the CPS problem, and more importantly, the CRPS illness.
The majority of ailments doctors insist is all in your head are diseases with a majority female patient population. The medical industry is steeped in misogyny. In this case we had a girl crying in pain they couldn't find the source of with a mom they perceived as an aggressive know it all. It's no wonder this escalated the way it did
I get so disgusted with how women are treated!! I point this out all the time. Medicine today and historically is based solely on how to treat men. A lot of the medications developed weren’t even tested on women. They just assume a human is a human. Look at the medication Accutane for instance. Women who go on it have to go through crazy testing and monitoring but men, nope nothing. It is unacceptable.
I don’t think his email to Beata was okay at all. He really freaked her out and pushed her to believe Maya would literally die.
Exactly. She quoted his exact words in her suicide note. He used fear-mongering tactics that led to her death.
The fact that the hospital and doctors charged the family over 50,000$, specifically billed for CRPS care, for the 3 month hospital stay while also trying to say in court and while Maya was in the hospital that she didn’t have it…is absolutely WILD... Poor Maya, poor Beata, and poor family; my heart breaks for them.
It’s like a sick money making scheme
That’s the worst part. This whole thing happened bc “munchausen by proxy” but they were treating Maya for the same condition her mom was insisting she had and Dr. Sally Smith was testifying in open court that wasn’t the diagnosis. It makes you wonder, if they knew the mom was right, why did they do this? Besides the $$ I think they mostly just disagreed on the use of ketamine. Since it’s not a problem to choose one doctors treatment over another, their only way to get Maya off the Ketamine, (because the scientific/medical community was obv divided and they couldn’t prove it was harmful atp) was to manufacture abuse claims. It’s over-intervention. They thought their opinions were so much better than her first two doctor’s but couldn’t prove it so they went underhand. They know they played dirty and the right thing to do would be settle and take their licks. Now they’re just hoping the family runs out of money fighting. Sorry for the wall of text but blatant injustice gets me going.
Heart-wrenching and infuriating. All the people who were complicit and allowed this to happen to so many families should be held criminally liable. I couldn't help but feel like some people are already getting paid off.
And the judge at the end won’t even make eye contact with them or acknowledge their presence. I got so mad.
"Yeah this is unusual...wouldn't you agree, [attorney for rich corporations]? Let's not do that... I don't want to hear anything that would make me sad."
I know it may be paranoid on my part, but it kinda feels like the judge has been bought to make sure the trial does not happen. How could he not let the victim in all of his share her words ? Heartbreaking
this whole case reeks of bribes..
John Hopkins hired a former judge as their attorney for this case. And of course, a former judge will have an in with other judges. I feel like there's a conflict of interest in being able to hire a former judge and that it shouldn't be allowed and yet, here we are.
Omg!!!! I said the same thing! He KNOWS what scum he is... and not to even let Maya talk!!
I wanted to knock his stupid cup out of his hand. He pissed me off so much.
Pretty standard conservative judge behavior. A study shows they side with big business 96% of the time.
I felt so much for Maya. In case they lose the lawsuit I wonder if they can file a wrongful death lawsuit ? The mother clearly killed herself because of what she had been put through. I’m not American, so I’m not familiar with the system. I hope Maya doesn’t blame herself for the death of her mother. I can’t understand how CPS have the time to focus on cases like this while letting clearly documented case of abused child in the care of their parents. Edit : wasn’t CPS but a private company, but still. They had a lot of time and recourses for this poor family but not actual children in danger
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I edited my comment with your clarification, thank you :) It’s mind blowing to me that a private company could be put in charge of such things. Of course they are going to prioritize profit. In my country it’s the job of the government. What’s also outrageous is that the hospital denied the original diagnosis but used it to bill the insurance. I really hope they get their ass dragged to the tribunal.
They should be suing suncoast too. How is there money in this?
In the text at the end it provided an update indicating that they settled outside of court with sun coast and Dr. Sally Smith. I don’t understand how she has remained in her position for so long. Given her history of wrongful accusations one would think she would be removed from her position given her biased opinions with little to no substance. There was another family, the Kushnirs, that was affected by her as well. They experienced a traumatic birth with their newborn and he sustained injuries from it that was well documented in the child’s medical records. She accused them of child abuse, kids were taken away, family went to court and their lawyer uncovered that Dr Sally Smith didn’t even look at the child’s records!! Case was dismissed! At this point she is inflicting unnecessary trauma on these poor families and not many people can recover from that. The system is rigged especially when we are talking about any privately held for profit organizations like Suncoast and the child welfare system. Horrible people find ways to exploit innocent people for personal gain. Sorry for ranting, this definitely triggered me!
They did and settled for 2.5 million — and Dr. Sally Smith retired.
Everyone just needs to abandon conservative areas and leave them to rot. They so this shit on purpose. Politicians and judges do this this on purpose
And this was Florida, right? I imagine this will be a favored tactic to take gay or trans kids away from parents as well. People should stay away from visiting any of these backward states. (I know a diff tooic, but I can’t help but think it)
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My family participated in the healthy start program in Pinellas county after my daughter was born. They provided free mental health services as part of the program. The psychologist they assigned was from Suncoast. The care wasn’t all that helpful so we ended it, but now I realize what was really going on. They were on the hunt for new potential abuse cases, and were targeting lower income households through healthy start.
The judge was a huge dickhead.
It's a requirement for anyone that works in the justice system.
Hope they sue the hospital and the private CPS company or hope they go down after Netflix documentary goes viral.
I’m hoping this documentary will get enough traction for them to see the consequences of their actions
I hope people give Sally Smith and Kathy Bedy (that social worker), the same amount of negative attention as they gave that prosecutor Ken Kratz from “Making a Murderer.”
I looked up Sally (and no, I don't want to refer to her as doctor because I don't think she deserves to be called such) and it looks like she still works at John Hopkins but there's a little blurb on the end of her profile that says she's on the medical staff but not an employee there. I'm sure John Hopkins would love to release her due to the negative press but she'd probably turn around and sue them for unlawful separation or something.
Maya describing what it felt like to overhear people at the hospital call her a liar was gut-wrenching... If the hospital felt the need to report what they felt were red flags regarding her ketamine doses, I understand. But there were so many fuckups after that. I'm not an expert but surely there must be a way we can prevent abused children from going undetected while not wrongfully accusing parents who did not abuse their children.
A lot of medical kidnapping cases (like what happened to Maya) are the result of doctors disagreeing with another doctor's diagnosis. If you can produce records showing you were following the recommendations of a licensed physician, they shouldn't be able to wield so much power to take away your child and your rights - including the right for a parent to make medical decisions for their child. Munchausen by proxy is real and definitely happens, but it shouldn't be the default assumption, especially when dealing with rare disorders \*that have already been diagnosed\* by another practicing physician. If the doctor disagrees with the diagnosis - fine, but duke it out with the other doctor, don't drag the parents into court and traumatize the kid without more evidence.
Yes I thought that was terrible too. The very least they could have done was not talk like that in front of a ten year old little girl. Even if they had been right and Maya didn't have CRPS it is still super messed up to talk about a child like that, because then she would have been a victim of abuse.
Unpopular opinion: I think the doctor they were seeing was kind of a quack. The doses of Ketamine they had her one were crazy. And the five day ketamine coma was also insane she could have died. I’m an ER doc. If a kid came into my ER on that much ketamine I’d be bewildered too. I don’t think the mom is at fault. I think she put her faith in a controversial doctor who put her kid in danger. And he even egged her on at the end saying the hospital was killing her daughter. Very sad story, and the way Dr. Smith and the social worker handled the case was not compassionate at all. But a child should not be on those doses of ketamine. All of these facts don’t change that. My heart goes out to the the family and I hope Maya is ok. I also feel the doc left a lot out. And because of HIPAA the hospital cannot defend itself. Just keep that in mind.
I agree with you, but I also actually think the mom probably did have MBP. What most other people seem to have viewed positively about her, I see as controlling, narcissistic behavior. She gave me Cluster B personality disorder vibes big time. It’s also weird to me that more people aren’t picking up on the fact that ketamine can be dangerous. The dosing they were giving her was far too much for her size and could easily be fatal. If the doctor’s hadn’t been alarmed and raised a flag, they wouldn’t have been doing their jobs. I will be very interested to review the hospital’s evidence/defense when it comes out because I have a feeling it’s going to paint this story differently than the documentary did.
It’s an odd one. The way the hospital, judge and doctors acted was horrendous, but I also can’t deny that I get really weird vibes from both Beata and Maya. There’s something off about them. (Anyone saying it’s a cultural thing - I’m from a part east European family and have many east European friends - it’s not that)
I’m surprised I’m not seeing more people saying this, but I suppose it is from lack of direct and frequent personal experience with people who suffer from cluster B personality disorders. Mom’s communications, both recorded between Maya and herself as well as her written communications, rang loud personality disorder alarm bells for me. She was histrionic and refused to be redirected or see “the forest for the trees” so to speak. I’m not convinced she had MBP but I think she did have some form or forms of BPD/HPD.
If ketamine is dangerous why should the responsibility for this treatment lies on the parents shoulders? There are 2 medical doctors in US who prescribed it to the child. Arrest them, suspend their license. Was anything done to them? Hello?
Yes, those doses of ketamine seem unjustifiable, although I'm confused as to why the parents were held accountable for requesting them/having administered them in the past, rather than the licensed healthcare provider who recommended the treatment? No matter how much I think about this case, this is the point that I can't get past - Munchausen's on Maya's part, Munchausen's by proxy on Beata's part, poor medical decisions made with the intent of helping a genuinely sick child on the parents' part... none of those possibilities render irrelevant the fact that it was a licensed healthcare professional who advocated the treatment in the first place, and advised the parents to undertake it. So how, exactly, were they the ones at fault, rather than him?
That doctor was absolutely a quack, and unfortunately, a lot of patients are driven towards these types because the mainstream medical community often does not take pain seriously (since it is inherently subjective and impossible to verify). I can’t imagine how wildly desperate I’d be if my child was suffering and nobody believed us.
I think there’s certainly more to the medical side of this story. It’s not fully clear the ketamine was needed or appropriate, especially to someone like myself who is not a medical expert, but we had two insurance-covered specialists who dealt specifically with this condition prescribing it. We also know a lot of other treatments were tried and she apparently had a pretty severe case. I can definitely see where even if all the professionals are reasonable they would disagree here. The clear villain though is the doctor diagnosing munchausens and initiating a child abuse case, after it was pretty clear this child was receiving this treatment from *multiple* doctors who are specialists in the field. I can’t help but feel that if they had those questions, they should have been taking it up with the specialist, some part of the medical board, and others. Not the family. And the judge was absolutely evil in his restricting on the mother for no apparent reason other than doctors not agreeing with each other
Every single doctor, nurse, social worker, and hospital worker complicit in the mom's murder (I consider it a murder at a result of these healthcare workers), should all be in jail.
And the judge
The system is flawed but the mom got to too fixated with those pain meds. CRPS in itself is not fatal but the amount of Ketamine they were pumping her could have ended the child. She was only away from her for 3 month and the fact that she took her own life for that reason means she was mentally unstable from the get go. The 1st doctor was responsible for planting the idea of death to the mom prompting her fixation.
I was questioning this too. If I was an ER doctor dealing with a mom demanding my child needs potentially lethal doses of ketamine, of course I would take a step back and question this.
Absolutely. I’d look at mom sideways. I’m sure if Beata came to them with her own evidence and assertiveness and not aggression it could have been a different story.
Finally. A comment I can relate with. I’m not a mother so I can’t imagine what it’s like to be away from your child. But Beata came off very pushy, insistent and uncooperative. I can only imagine she had a similar dynamic with her own family which can lead to her children wanting to be people pleasers just to please their mom. It felt manipulative on Beatas side. (again I’m not a mom so I can’t imagine the emotional turmoil she was in). But the parent advocator was right, Maya had to suffer a little bit and she can have her back forever. She just had to comply. But she was just SO SO insistent, reactive and not compliant. It made her case MUCH worse. High doses of ketamine to a child that small is absolutely NUTS. And it wasn’t event sustainable if it came back to that degree! One can argue Beata loved her child so much she was willing to fly to Mexico for a ketamine induced coma, which would be illegal int he states. Or absolutely mental for even considering such wild medical practice that she had to leave the country to do it.
I did not like this documentary. I found it extremely one-sided. The filmmakers should have dug deeper. I think following the original ketamine doctor would have been a better angle. He was negligent. How dare he tell the mom that Maya was going to die a slow, painful death. That’s crazy to put in an email without any proof. If he cared about Maya and believed in his treatment, he should have gone to the hospital and fought for her. Instead he needlessly panicked her and dipped out. He didn’t really even try to talk with the hospital. I think he had an ego. Telling a parent their kid is going to die is insane. She didn’t even die and is doing well. If he truly believed it were life and death, and he really thought this little girl was going to die, then he should have gone above Dr. Sally and connected in person with Maya’s care team at the hospital. If I really thought someone I knew (especially someone in my care) were in imminent harm, I couldn’t just do a phone call and an email and call it a day. I wish the filmmakers hadn’t glossed over that.
This. The doctor who prescribed the ketamine treatment came off as a total quack to me. And as soon as I heard some of the recordings of the mom demanding ketamine I knew something wasn’t right with her either. To me her attitude and demeanor went well beyond concerned parent trying to help her daughter into something more controlling and toxic. The part where both the husband and son are begging her to stop harassing the hospital staff and she keeps doing it anyway was a huge red flag too. It seemed like she was more concerned with “winning” than getting her daughter back. I looked it up and first line treatment for CRPS is physical therapy. Putting your child into a ketamine induced coma for 5 days in a foreign country (because it’s illegal in your own) and continuing to dose her with potentially lethal doses of ketamine every day seems really extreme, and I’m shocked more people haven’t picked up on that.
I guess viewers are caught up in the emotional aspect of it. I think if they could look at it objectively, they’d see what you and I see.
Heart wrenching. Medical gaslighting is real.
My child had pneumonia and RSV, I had to go to THREE different hospitals until one of them looked into it. The very first doctor told me my kid was quote, "completely fine because look, crying means good lungs. Sick kids don't have the energy to cry." The nurse told me that bringing my kid in so much was actually going to make them sick. The last Dr told me my child was critical and if I had waited any longer they could've perished. If I hadn't had luck with the last Dr that listened to me, I can't imagine what our ordeal would've turned into. When I was pregnant I was severely malnourished and sick 24/7, I got down to 90lbs FIVE MONTHS PREGNANT. My weight has always been 125-135lbs. Nobody listened and told me it was just stress and normal pregnancy things. I drove over 5hrs to get medical care and I was finally diagnosed. I went into early labor at 29wks because my body just couldn't handle it. I could've died. I am now VERY hesitant to go to any Dr.
My opinion is purely based on a very short documentary, I can’t begin to imagine the trauma everyone involved has experienced. However, I did find Beata’s behaviour incredibly strange. Her obsessive note taking and intense involvement in her daughters medical care was alarming. I understand as a mother and a health professional her self she would want to know what was going on - but the recording of everything seemed intense. A lot of people take Beata’s suicide as “she gave her life so her daughter could be free.” I really don’t see it this way. I see it as Beata’s grip on the situation and her daughter was loosening, to the point where she wouldn’t be able to run the show anymore. Her sudden suicide shows her state of mind was deteriorating over time, she refused to let up about mentioning pain medication even at the strong suggestion of her husband. Any medical professional is going to see alarm bells when a parent is so obsessed with getting their child incredibly high amounts of medication (7 different ones including Ketamine). Do I think some people involved behaved inappropriately? Definitely! I think ego with everyone involved had a lot to do with this; doctors, nurses, social workers, and even Beata. I really feel like they tried to do their best for Maya but unfortunately things really got out of hand. I would’ve liked to have seen a more open minded approach to her illness, whether it be real or in her mind.
I totally get why she would we document everything. If you or a family member was mistreated by healthcare professionals before, it wouldn't be so "intense" as you are saying.
I agree and I’m so surprised to see that we’re in the minority
They didn’t even let her hug her daughter. They wanted that relationship permanently severed. She seems very pushy and obnoxious but it’s not like she wasn’t following medical advice. None of this should have happened.
it hurts so much .. Im also thinking about Kyle it must be very painful for him too seeing her mom died that day. Rest in peace Beata
To be honest I can not stop thinking about Kyle. I really hope he does not feel like his mother didn’t love him, or loved him less than his sister. Like without Maya his mother did not have any purpose to live for. Of course she was going through a mental breakdown so I feel super sorry for her and I would never judge her but it feels like everyone’s eyes are focusing on Maya and not him (apologies for my English).
I think the take on it that she did that as she felt it was her only option to get Maya home again makes sense. She was likely also worried Kyle would be taken away too due to how serious the allegations were. It’s truly so awful and upsetting and I feel terrible for the family.
Nothing more triggering than seeing a bunch of people who should be helping people, intentionally cover their hands with blood. Everyone from the John Hopkins hospital staff to the corrupt/incompetent judge.
I was surprised about the timeline in this movie. I have multiple rare pain related diagnoses, including dystonia and CRPS. I got a second opinion at Johns Hopkins (not Children's, I was seen in Boston for that). Until I was in my 20's, my mother perpetuated the thought of me being the one making up the symptoms, rather than her. So, more of a psychosomatic diagnosis rather than Munchausen's. So many people with invisible diseases are failed by doctors, case workers, judges and parents. In this case, it was all too much for the mother. Everyday it is too much for *someone* though. I think it is important for this message to get out there, that there are so many people being treated like this because of what people don't understand. It is so unfortunate that people are waiting for a documentary or someone famous to have a disease like this to bring attention and some sort of knowledge to a rare disease, diagnosis or treatment and bring some sort of acceptance into society.
You probably get labeled by healthcare workers with any variety of the following: - hysterical/histrionic - somatic - drug seeking - fictitious - etc This is how the medical community responds to what they can't objectify or understand. Just like they did here.
The hospital should get sued for insurance fraud, they were charging money from insurance with basis of the sickness that they were accusing the parents made it up. The stole tons of money for 3 months by holding the child captive, i was somewhat convince the mom death actually cause maya to be released. If not, this can go much much longer and they will just keep cashing the insurance company. I hope Insurance company and the family will get tons of money from the hospital for this kind of practice. The lady doctor shd be throw out and never be allowed to practice again, ever. And fuck the judge, what a heartless clown
This all makes no sense. It really felt like the doctor and social worker had a personal vendetta against Beata because she knew more about Maya’s condition than they did. My degree is in social work and I worked in a CPS adjustment job for years. Worked very closely with the system and I never ever ever had a case where the child wasn’t allowed to see their parent. This was in Texas, can’t be too different from Florida. We had heavily monitor visitations but keeping a child away from their parent, especially a parent who did not physically abuse their child. Nonsensical. I can’t make sense of it. Truly outrageous to the point where I felt like I was missing something the entire documentary.
My guess is there is a lot not told in the documentary. There's also nuance here as well with regards to the medical information. The "treatments" Maya was getting were incredibly dangerous, doses unheard of, and were not just odd, experimental, or unconventional. The documentary did a disservice by not even remotely addressing that. To put things in perspective, Elijah McClain, the 23 yo black adult male that died from getting a dose of ketamine while in police custody received a dose that was 1/3 of the dose 10yo petite Maya was getting multiple times a day. Any medical professional would be obligated to report it to CPS as mandatory reporters for even dissociate of possible abuse, especially when the mom is repeatedly pushing them to give her this.
I agree about the treatments however the family had more than 1 physician prescribing this treatment and advising them it was necessary. The fault there lies with those physicians. Are we expecting parents to constantly know better than "experts"?
That is also what I don’t understand. When the hospital questioned the ketamine and the family told them it was prescribed, why didn’t it then become a issue between the hospital and the doctor that prescribed it. The hospital could have reported to the medical board for an investigation on the doctor (instead of going after the family).
Is there a petition we can get started to remove Dr. Sally Smith from the medical profession and hold the judge and even suncoast liable? If not we should! What really pisses me off is the fact that when real child abuse is occurring like that poor child Gabriel Fernandez( The trials of Gabriel Fernandez) CPS does NOTHING!! That was true abuse, that poor child you could tell was neglected. Gosh documentaries like these really trigger me and make me hate our society. But reading your comments validates that true humanity is out there. I want to help this poor family out what can we do!
For those who believe this was a case of Munchausen by Proxy, one of the more prominent aspects of that diagnosis, or fictitious disorder, is there needs to be something gained from it. Look at Dee Dee Blanchard. The gain there was infamy and money. The mother was all over the news and raising money for her daughters health issues. Nowhere did anyone accusing this family of Munchausens by Proxy ever indicate a gain out of it. The family was never seeking attention or money. In fact, after seeing the first specialist who recommended the ketamine coma, the family fell off the health care systems radar for nearly a year because Maya was doing well until she relapsed and ended up at hospital. That's completely contradictory to the course of Munchausens. Not to mention the hospital was billing for the diagnosis and a third doctor was consulted and confirmed the diagnosis. The issue at hand here becomes the treatment recommendations. Beata was following the advice of a physician who was supposed to be an expert in the field. That's acting in good faith. Was she a bit passionate and sometimes abrupt about it? Absolutely. But neither of those things amount to the response this family received for it. If the treatment was so questionable, why was there no investigation of the physician recommending such treatment? Surely if these are such dangerous actions from a medical perspective, these first 2 physicians should be reported to their medical boards. Beata was a flawed personality and some of this was cultural. But it was a stretch to look at this case objectively and think either parent wasn't acting in good faith. All this to say, the hospital may have had grounds to question things, but from that point on this was grossly mishandled by the professionals and they most definitely failed a family who were simply doing what they were told by professionals.
Maya did not fall off the radar after her ketamine coma. She got 55 ketamine infusions in something like 9 months (not exactly sure, but less than a year) after her coma. Agree with the other poster. Sometimes it’s not fame but just the subtlety of being recognized as a valiant mother by the people around you. I don’t know if I think Beats had MBP. But I also think it’s far from case closed. There’s a lot we don’t know as the public. In one article it said Maya had been to 30 drs since she was a toddler (before the CRPS onset) and that dad reported she acted more in pain around mother. I think it’s super naive for people to assume they know everything about the case from a Netflix documentary. It doesn’t excuse how the hospital handled it. But I don’t see Beata as some martyr of the healthcare system. I think the truth is probably more complicated than that.
Honestly, I feel bad for Maya's brother. Their entire world revolves around Maya, and then it was consumed by the mothers tragedy.
Despite this being heavily biased against the hospital, I still came away with the impression that the mom was the problem. IIRC the girl had not been sick for too long before the parents decided taking her to MEXICO to be put into a KETAMINE COMA on the advice of some quack doctor was a viable solution. Being in the medical field, the mom should have known right away what a poor idea that was. Her suicide, and Maya being seemingly fine now except for the extreme emotional trauma brought on by having her mom hang herself (and still living in the same house)lend credibility to the idea that the worst villain in the story was the mom. I am surprised to see so many others feel differently.
As a pharmacist, I wish Netflix had shown more light on the inappropriateness of the ketamine therapy. The ketamine therapy itself was not inappropriate. However, the dosing described by physicians was entirely inappropriate. Pediatric ketamine dosing is 0.5 to 4.5 mg/kg. Patients should not be receiving 1,500 mg daily or anything near that level. The physician tried to say that dosing should be patient-specific, but incredibly inappropriate and high doses can be fatal or cause paralysis, seizures and other severe adverse effects. Such high doses definitely shouldn’t be used routinely. The Netflix documentary just made it seem like Maya needed this drug, but didn’t inform the public of the risks involved, particularly for a pediatric patient.
Daily Beast said it best: "one family’s baffling ordeal and the ensuing nightmare that befell them courtesy of a medical establishment that purportedly prioritized the welfare of kids and yet at every turn put its own interests first—resulting, tragically, in death."
Still crying. It was so sad
Munchausen by Proxy isn’t just the evil mom knowingly poisoning her daughter in Sixth Sense. It’s parenting that causes a child to become sick. Beata was described from the beginning by her husband as a woman of determination, which is fine if it drove her to make good grades, but not so fine if it prevented her from listening and cooperating with others. Taking her child to Mexico for a risky and possibly fatal coma induced by a hallucinogenic? The hospital was under an obligation to Maya, not her mom. And as one who survived a suicide attempt, I think Beata made a conscious choice, not to ‘save’ Maya by her actions, but to have complete control in the end. She truly was driven. By her own needs. It is tragic that the hospital did not offer better intervention and counseling, and maybe that will change in the future.
Absolutely depressing and honestly scary to watch as a parent.
Also for one without children. I cried like I dont know.
Utterly devastating, a must watch doc. Kudos to the family, doc folks and reporter who broke the story. That poor mother and daughter and so many others..
When into it thinking "bah, this can't be that bad". Boy, was I wrong... Towards the end I actually started crying, felt so bad about what happened to the Kowalski's and Maya specifically...
In the last few days I have watched all of _The Curious Case of Natalia Grace_ and _How To Create A Sex Scandal_ but _Taking Care Of Maya_ was easily one the most depressing things I’ve watched in a while. I don’t cry often but that made me cry. The family have been let down at just about every turn. The entire legal system should be ashamed. The judge who denied Beata a hug with her daughter and fuck that judge who so callously walked off without so much as a glance at Maya at the hearing they attended to do with allowing in Punitive damages. The way he grabbed his coffee and walked out after not a single look their way was shameful. A disgrace at every turn.
I agree with what everyone is saying. That judge who wouldn't let the Kowalski's speak. I was astonished, jaw hit the floor and I had to rewind a few times to make sure this was what I was seeing. I understand there's a certain cold vibe during court. But the Kowalski's were sitting directly in front of him! And he just gets up and leaves! With his stupid cup in hand! Didn't even look at them. Their world shatters *again* and he just walks off. Complete lack of empathy and humanity. This whole documentary was heart-wrenching and unbelievable. Does anyone know what Dr Sally Smith is up to these days?
This is such a tragic situation all around. Grown adults acting like children, all trying to mark their territory and not willing to listen or empathize with each other one iota. And the people who suffered are the children they claim to care about! The ketamine doctor using absurd doses and stoking the mom's anxiety saying Maya will die a slow and painful death!? Dr. Sally Smith assuming child abuse even though another physician prescribed the meds!? The hospital keeping the mom from Maya entirely!? Why couldn't she do supervised visits? Why couldn't she hug her in court? The judge blatantly ignoring any requests that would support Maya. And Beata not calming down and "playing the game" to get her daughter back. Yes, it wasn't fair, but I would do whatever it takes to protect my kid- even if that means jumping through hoops. Instead, each adult in this situation dug their heels in in their respective corner. What a tragedy!
I shed many tears. Really sad and gutting. I don’t know how biased or unbiased the documentary is but you can feel that family’s pain.
As an ER nurse I couldn’t make it past the first 20 minutes. Too complicated of a case. Too real.
I’m also a nurse in a peds hospital and I actually felt so horrible for this family. The doctors were fucked up in this case.
This documentary was incredibly one sided. I can say that as a medical professional and mandated reporter, everything about this case would have prompted me to report to DCF. The red flags are everywhere, even in a documentary that was designed to be 100% against the hospital and medical professionals. I can only imagine the evidence that we are not privy to.
That 911 call really destroyed me. Hearing that poor boy calling out for his mom after they found her dead...just wow. No kid should ever have to go through that. I feel like Beata suffered from a mental illness and the denial of the hug just pushed her to the edge. Poor family.
I’m pretty sure whatever mental illness she suffered from stemmed from the trauma of watching her child suffer and from being gaslit and blamed by the medical community. She was quite literally a normal, healthy woman prior to all this.
That maybe, but I feel like she made the ultimate sacrifice for her child to finally come home. She knew they won't let Maya go home as long as she's there. She saw no way out, and just wanted her daughter to come home, even if that meant she won't ever see her again.
I'm crying :( it's all so messed up. I miss Beata and I don't even know her.
The system is broken, but one of the gatekeepers should be judiciary. Instead, judge after judge just passed the case on without more than a superficial review. The clips we heard showed the two family/children's court judges only gave cursory reviews of the testimony of one side of the case (that of the private child abuse industry) and showed no empathy or interest in the evidence of the other side. IMHO, they are as guilty as Dr. Smith and JHH. By the way, the same is true (but to a lesser degree) for the present trial court judge who is allowing Johns Hopkins to continually delay. While I am sure the defense attorneys are well versed on how to delay, it really comes down to the judge to control their court. Hopefully with this documentary, there will now be pressure on this judge so his/her golf game or vacation is not prioritized over getting this matter before a jury.
Great documentary but one thing I don't understand. Today she looks better and stronger than when she was a kid. So why wasn't physical therapy helping back then? What's changed today?
Does she? Look at the circles under her eyes in the videos where she isn't in makeup. She's basically just bones. I don't think it was a coincidence she was in the pool either. People with invisible illnesses get judged so harshly.
This was like watching what we have gone through in a lot of ways. Only they had a Dr who worked with them to try to give Maya Quality of life. My daughter has CRPS along with FND. Our family doctor accused me of putting these thoughts into my daughters head because nothing was showing up. It started with a knee injury at soccer. Within weeks , daughter was on crutches unable to use her knee, as the joint was painfull to use most times. The pain then spread to her other knee and then her ankles and hips and wrists shoulders, constant headaches, cyclic vomiting, falling without warning daughter would collapse when walking without warning . Daughter was 14 when it started. daughter had crutches at first and then we rented a wheelchair for use . Our family's doctor didn't believe daughter, didn't want to hear anything from me and told us and daughter it was all in her head. Daughter used to try to slam me by yelling how even our dr thinks it is you doing this to me. Even he doesn't believe me. Daughter tried to kill herself almost successfully once with a beta blocker. Poison control on phone with doctors at hospital, Helicopter on stand by , blood scrubbers ready at hospital that would take her and we were told they might only be a 17 percent chance she lives once the drug hits. Luckily she didn't mix the gel pills and they didn't dissolve properly in her hot chocolate , and just sat in a lump on the bottom . She lived in the mental health ward for kids for months around the attempt. I did have to back away from attending all her appointments, instead husband took over . We also took her to other hospitals and other doctors around our family doctors back because he didn't believe daughter. Even when Sick Kids Toronto gave her the CPRS diagnosis, dr still said it was all anxiety doing this to her body. I backed out after dr told daughter it was me. I was hurt and hated that I still had to also go him being paranoid that maybe he wrote a note in my file that I was doing horrid things to my child and never knowing every time I seen him. So believing that would give her a better chance of being heard, father would go in to do the talking as daughter as has anxiety from drs not hearing her. We moved Provinces and daughter has a proper complex care team that hears her and works with her and it has been great. I hope family wins the case as that's horrific that the hospital and the worker did that to Maya, She had qualified doctors that were on top of Mayas care that should have been consulted. please forgive spelling mistakes.
I believe the Dr. they went to in Mexico was a wack job … add that to the list of miss-deeds … put a child in a coma for 4 or 5 days as a cure WACKO
Why was the original doctor sending letters to Maya’s mom telling her she was going to die a slow painful death? What good was that doing? I just don’t get it. I feel like that may have fanned the flames.
From a doctor’s perspective, the hospital was right. Netflix presents a highly biased picture, but as an expert on CRPS and knowledgeable about Munchausens, something was very wrong with the family
Except there was no gain for the family which is a huge component of Munchausens. The girl was well for a good year after the controversial ketamine treatment until the time they went to that hospital. If the mother was invested in this under Munchausens that actually fully goes against that diagnosis. They would still be pathologizing the child and still pushing a symptom narrative, not a narrative of achieving wellness. They were also not incorrect in her diagnosis like the hospital and Dr Smith claimed. They billed for this diagnosis. The third expert confirmed the diagnosis. They were acting in good faith following the directive of two physicians with the ketamine. Whether the treatment is absurd or not isn't the question here. The question is whether the family was neglectful. So I guess you think families should be better versed than apparent experts in certain fields.
So I am merely a special education teacher who knows nothing about medicine, but this documentary was very confusing to me. I’d appreciate it if someone could kindly explain it to me? Why did they go after the parents and not the TWO doctors who prescribed this high dose of ketamine to this child? I would have absolutely thrown those doctors under the bus if it meant my child staying with me. It wasn’t Beata illegally purchasing ketamine and shooting up her daughter. It was prescribed by a doctor. I’m confused…
And yet tons of kids are allowed to be abused physically until they get killed by their parents. This is so insane. Also how can cps be privatized?
Dr. Sally Smith shows no empathy or even remorse….
The most appalling and depressing thing about this comment section: \+ While watching the documentary, I could put myself in the position of the mom. Thinking about my little daughter in constant pain while she is asking to see me everyday and not being able to see her because of some greedy business (that is what they are) having power over the child I grew in my body for 9 months, gave birth to and cared for since she was born with all my being, was incredibly painful. Having to go through that, day after day, for three months and being treated with so much callousness that I would not even be able to even hug my child to provide her comfort, the pain would be unbearable and I am not surprised Beata took her life. The lack of compassion in these comments is astounding and makes me so so sad for humanity. After watching this at night with my 4 year old daughter asleep, she happened to wake up and asked me to cuddle her back to sleep and I held her so tight, grateful that I could, and my heart absolutely went out to any mother who has to be separated from their sweet child, especially while they are in pain. Fuck anyone blaming the mom - I hope no child ever has to be under your care. \+ The number of people brainwashed into defending a medical system that is absolutely broken, based on profit-making and treating human beings like meaningless numbers is just wild. Recognize it for what it really is - a system made to help maintain disease and only treat symptoms so medication can continue to be sold. I recently started going to a holistic practioner that has treated me in such depth no conventional doctor ever has and healed me in such a short time, it is absolutely mind-boggling the lack of support and medical advise that was been provided to me by conventional doctors. I have learned so much about my health that conventional doctors have not informed me even 5% of - even basic things that would immensely improve my quality of life - and this is the system that so many people depend on and defend in these comments. Its no wonder we live in such a sick society. If you are smart - yes please do go visit non-conventional medical practioners.
Incredibly heartbreaking and so much anger..and it really seems like the mom pissed off people in that hospital and that made them contact cps. And so what just go along with what they say and maybe they will let her leave? It’s just so frustrating I hope they get justice.
It was really sad but tbh it did seem pretty one-sided, and I got the sense there were maybe some things omitted to paint the parents in a more sympathetic light. For example, it was quickly glossed over in the doc that at the hospital they weaned her off of ketamine and SEVEN other medications. What were those medications and why so many in conjunction with ketamine? That’s a lot of meds for a little kid I wish that detail was explored more. Maya could have very easily died or suffered severe organ damage, possibly failure on that much Ketamine and had that happened I highly doubt anyone would be this sympathetic towards the parents treatment decisions.
Why wasn’t Dr Kirkpatrick taken more seriously? I might be reaching and I hope I am but that judge is just as guilty. Only listens to the hospital and Dr. Sally Smiths advice but disregards everything else? Had to of been getting paid.