VENICE, Fla. — A social worker at the center of the legal fight between the Kowalskis and Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital took the stand today in a Sarasota County courthouse.
Catherine "Cathi" Bedy testified for the defense and denied many of the allegations the Kowalski family lodged against her.
Bedy was the go-between for the hospital and the Department of Children and Families on orders related to Maya Kowalski's case while she was sheltered.
"CPI asked me to go in and tell Maya that she wasn't going to go home for Christmas and that was a difficult conversation," Bedy recalled.
Bedy said part of her job at the hospital was to pass communications to Maya including sharing court-related information and breaking bad news.
"She was just sobbing and asked if she could sit in my lap and I said sure. I hugged her and she cried for a good 10 minutes or so and she was mad and saying things like she wanted to talk to the judge," she said.
On the stand, Maya had testified that Bedy had been inappropriate with her at times, an accusation which Bedy vehemently denied.
She also said visitors of any child under state care had to be screened and pre-approved.
One of the issues the Kowalskis raised was that Bedy restricted the family from contacting Maya including removing the phone in the hospital room.
"Mrs. Kowalski had made lots of phone calls to Maya on a Saturday, I guess that was the day Nancy worked and there wasn't supposed to be any contact," Bedy said.
Bedy also denied accusations that she told Maya her mom was in a mental home.
She was accused of eavesdropping on conversations, as well. However, Bedy said the voice on many of the calls in question was not hers. She, instead, said in the call she supervised, she interjected when the conversation was not understandable.
"Mom started speaking in Polish and that was part of the rules that mom could not speak in Polish to Maya," she said.
Bedy also explained Maya was a fall risk and had to be supervised by staff with the door open at all times, even with visitors.
The issue of the Christmas dress, which Maya's dad Jack Kowalski claimed never got to Maya, also came up. Photos shown to jurors showed Maya wearing similarly described dresses on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
"Once I got the email from him I went to find the dresses and they were actually in the social work office and then I took them to Maya," Bedy said.
Bedy also revealed if the shelter order had remained, Maya would likely have entered a medical foster home because of her medical condition and the severity of the medical child abuse accusations against her mother, Beata.
The Kowalski family is suing the hospital for $220 million, accusing staff of medical malpractice, battery, and false imprisonment for keeping Maya from them for 87 days. They also blame hospital staff for Maya's mother's suicide.