Netflix's Maya Kowalski says 'no amount of money will ever bring my mom back' after winning bombshell $260 million lawsuit against Johns Hopkins Children's Hospital - as she now files criminal complaint claiming she was sexually assaulted

Netflix's Maya Kowalski has said that no amount of money will ever bring her mother back after winning a bombshell $260 million lawsuit against Johns Hopkins Children's Hospital.

Kowalski, 17, who is the subject of the documentary 'Take Care of Maya,' has since filed a criminal complaint claiming she was sexually assaulted while under the care of the hospital.

Her mother, Beata Kowalski, died by suicide in 2017 after she was banned from visiting her sick daughter in hospital.

Now, Maya Kowalski has told NewsNation: 'No amount of money would ever replace my mom. So honestly we were just happy to get a yes, we were happy to have our prayers answered.' 

Kowalski and her family launched a $220 million lawsuit in October 2018 suing the Florida medical facility, Maya's social worker Cathi Bedy and Dr Sally Smith along with her employer, Suncoast Center.

In December 2021, the family settled with Smith and Suncoast for the sum of $2.5 million and the Kowalski family dropped its case against Bedy shortly before the trial began. It remains unclear whether a settlement was brokered.

In 2016, a judge ordered Maya to be sheltered at the medical facility under state custody while allegations of child abuse raised against her parents were being investigated.

At the time, hospital staff believed Beata had been suffering from Munchausen-by-proxy, or medical child abuse. 

Munchausen-by-proxy is a mental illness and a form of child abuse in which the caretaker of a child, most often a mother, either makes up fake symptoms or causes real symptoms to make it look like the child is sick.

Since winning at trial, Kowalski filed a criminal complaint claiming she was sexually  abused at Johns Hopkins All Children's hospital.

Jurors this week ruled in favor of the teen, and found that the JHACH had falsely imprisoned her - leading to the suicide of her mother Beata.

The hospital has vehemently denied the allegations and is seeking to appeal the verdict after six jurors took close to three days to pore over mountains of evidence.

Speaking to DailyMail.com exclusively, the family's attorney, Greg Anderson, has now revealed that Maya filed a criminal complaint with Pinellas County Sheriff's Office on Friday.

'Maya Kowalski filed criminal charges this morning with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department involving an assault and battery at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in the period of approximately October 8 - 13 of 2016,' Anderson said.

'It's unclear who the assailant was although my client was able to identify him with great specificity in terms of height, weight, hair color, clothing - he did have a lab coat on, he did have a stethoscope around his shoulders.

'Although we can't make a positive ID on whether it was an employee or someone who gained access to the intensive care unit and entry into her room we are alleging in the alternative a physician or a person appearing to be a physician whether that be another level of employee or somebody who shouldn't have been there intruded.'

Anderson said after the years-long hardship, pain and suffering endured from the case this was yet another blow to the family who have already endured so much.

'Ms Kowalski was there under false imprisonment by Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital as determined yesterday by a jury,' he explained.

'During that first period of time of her imprisonment there in October a man entered the room appeared to be a physician without a chaperone or any female or anyone else in the room knocked once came through the door and approached her and then pulled down her pajamas and underwear.' 

'[He] came in and pulled down her pajamas and underwear to stare at [and] touch her private parts.

'Maya suppressed this until about four weeks ago, [but] she did put in some notes to both the psychiatrist there at the time Dr. Katzenstein and later to Dr. Henschke, the two female psychiatrists that she saw along the way.'

Anderson has revealed a slew of evidence and testimony to back the claim alleging that Maya had revealed the assault to 'a boy back when she was 13.'

The hospital's attorney Ethan Shapiro said the allegations came to light through the trial and JHACH is investigating. 

'As soon as the hospital became aware of the allegations, and in accordance with their policies, they immediately initiated an internal investigation and contacted law enforcement last month,' he said.

'Federal privacy laws restrict Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital from sharing more, but the hospital takes allegations of this nature very seriously and always puts the safety of their patients above all else.' 

After eight weeks of testimony from experts, the Kowalski family and hospital staff jurors deliberated before deciding to award the family $211,451,174 in compensatory damages.

They also awarded an additional $50 million in punitive damages for false imprisonment and false imprisonment with battery totaling the amount to more than $261 million.

In a post to her story on Instagram, Maya uploaded a picture of herself smiling in court last Thursday after bursting into tears following the blockbuster trial.

'We are feeling so blessed! I will forever be grateful,' she wrote online.

Maya, 17, was just 10, when she was removed by the state after doctors accused her parents of faking symptoms for her rare condition - complex regional pain syndrome.

The jury found the emotional distress caused to her mother Beata Kowalski - who was forbidden from seeing her daughter for three months - led to her suicide in 2017.

Maya, her father Jack and brother Kyle broke down in tears as the jury's findings were read out at the court in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

Jurors found the children's hospital liable for false imprisonment of Maya, battery of Maya, fraudulent billing of her father Jack, inflicting emotional distress on Beata, wrongful death claim for the estate of Beata and intentionally inflicting emotional distress on Maya.

The family argued that the grief-stricken mom fell into a depression and ultimately hanged herself in the family garage, but Johns Hopkins had vehemently denied that it caused her death or abused Maya. 

In a statement after the ruling was handed down, Howard Hunter, attorney from Hill Ward Henderson who represented Johns Hopkins in the case, told DailyMail.com that the hospital intends to appeal the decision. 

For eight weeks 12 jurors heard from the Kowalski family, hospital staff and experts in the trial. Six jurors deliberated the case finding in favor of Kowalski. 

The Kowalski family claimed the hospital medically kidnapped Maya and pointed to examples of battery including 'stripping her down' to a sports bra and shorts to take pictures of lesions, as well as being 'cuddled, kissed and held' without the permission of her parents while in their care.

After jury instructions were read, one juror was dismissed for medical reasons after a defense request to have the juror reassigned as an alternate was dismissed.