America as an Audience: "Take Care of Maya"

  On November 9th, 2023, headlines across the country were swarmed with the news of the Kowalski family’s victory in court. 261 million dollars. Definitely a hefty number. I had never actually heard of this case, but immediately began watching the documentary “Take Care of Maya” to learn the whole story. 

And with a mix of family, power struggles, and a rare condition - it’s no surprise that this case has taken over America. Directed by Henry Roosevelt, the film gives an overview of the Kowalski family, Maya Kowalski’s condition, chronic regional pain syndrome, and the whirlwind they experienced at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital (JHACH) in 2016.

 This isn’t a movie review, so I’m not going to analyze Roosevelt’s techniques or the soundtrack. But with a mix of interviews with the Kowalskis, court testimony, phone calls, and hospital footage - we get the whole picture of the nightmare that unfolded for the family. 

Maya, Jack, Beata, and Kyle Kowalski (Netflix) 

As the “number one children’s hospital in Florida” (according to their website), you’d think that JHACH would be providing top-tier pediatric care to families across the state. Yet, for the Kowalskis, Maya’s hospitalization transformed their lives into a whirlwind of child abuse allegations, power conflicts, and trauma. Maya was in state custody for almost three months, and she was only released from the hospital after the suicide of Beata Kowalski, her mother. From the get-go, we can tell that Beata was extremely passionate and assertive. Someone who would do whatever it took to ensure that her daughter was receiving the best care possible. But with high tensions and allegations of Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy, Maya was separated from her family and deprived of the care she needed for her CRPS. 

The documentary ends with the Kowalskis' attempts to bring their lawsuit to trial, which (as we now know) has brought them retribution for the matriarch of their family. But I’d like to talk about something that these films and the many true crime, scandalous stories have in common. It reminds me a bit of our conversation in class about “Don't Let Me Be Lonely” by Claudia Rankine. These families and victims have been totally sensationalized by the media. The Kowalski family has definitely benefited from the press - achieving a form of justice for their mother. But c’mon. There are so many other families that have gone through the same thing but received little to no attention. 

Child abuse allegations, children ripped away from their families, and false imprisonment. Sally Clark. Trupti Patel. And many more, who are victims of false Munchausen by proxy allegations and diagnoses. Olivia Gant. Garnett Spears. Others are victims of actual Munchausen by proxy syndrome. These are all human lives that have been attributed to the condition, and yet I’d never heard of these names before doing my research for this blog post. 

Only a small number of perpetrators, victims, and lawyers are put in a spectator position to the American audience. An audience who follows these cases meticulously, yet once it’s all over disregards the human lives involved entirely. Don’t we have an obligation to keep these names alive? There’s a fine line between entertainment and education - but American media tiptoes across it way too much. I think we have to work towards setting aside the riveting, investigative (these are the adjectives Netflix uses to describe “Take Care of Maya”) aspects of media that have turned these real lives into entertainment for the masses.

Maya Kowalski (USA Today)

I am truly happy for the Kowalskis’ win in court. They received legitimate recognition and retribution that their experience with JHACH was wrong. It never should’ve even happened. But what are we doing as an audience? Do we have a responsibility as well? And after watching this documentary, I feel that I’m left with more questions than answers.