VENICE, Fla. — Jurors have a lot more to ponder Tuesday night as lawyers mount their defense in the "Take Care of Maya" trial.
After several weeks of hearing from about 40 witnesses from the plaintiff's side, we are now getting to hear Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital's side of the story in their seven-year-long legal battle with the Kowalski family.
The family has accused the hospital of false imprisonment, battery and what they call "extreme and outrageous" conduct.
However, the hospital has maintained that staff were acting in the best interest of the child and following orders from the Department of Children and Families.
The state took custody of Maya for 87 days in October of 2016 over concerns of ketamine abuse and Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy by her mother, Beata Kowalski. Beata later took her own life over those accusations hoping it would end her daughter's state custody, according to testimony.
On Tuesday night, jurors heard from two witnesses linked to the Department of Children and Families and watched two previously recorded depositions from Tampa General Hospital staff who treated Maya before she was admitted to All Children's and diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.
The witnesses wasted no time in attempting to poke holes in some of the plaintiff's arguments.
Some key pieces of evidence at the center of the case, such as audio recordings of supervised phone conversations, have now been called into question as to whose voice is overheard redirecting Beata Kowalski.
Charlotte LaPorte, a social worker and defense witness, told a counsel for the hospital that it was her voice in the audio recordings.
Up until LaPorte's testimony as the day's first witness, the recordings were among those in which the plaintiffs and another social worker identified the voice as hospital social worker Cathi Bedy.
"That was absolutely my voice," LaPorte said. "I think anybody that has heard my voice in here today and on the recording could tell that that was my voice."
LaPorte, who worked with DCF partner Pathways, said she coordinated with Bedy facilitating orders linked to family including phone calls. Bedy was a sore point for Beata Kowalski.
"My recollection is that she did not want her to be part of the conversation so she was not part of the conversation," LaPorte said. "She was not included in the call, and she never in any way, inserted herself into the phone call."
LaPorte said the few times she knew that Bedy was involved in moderating the phone calls was when she was the only one available. LaPorte also said she reviewed emails and got them to the hospital for Maya Kowalski.
The second witness of the day, a social worker who at that time was with Safe Children's Coalition, said she observed Maya Kowalski on four occasions and saw lots of inconsistencies in her story and behavior.
"Maya's feet were in the anatomically correct. She could wriggle her feet around and her toes around," Tori Niehus said. "She was also seen in Indian style so many times."
Niehus said she did not observe any signs of dystonia during the time she was assigned to Maya Kowalski's case at the hospital. She described her state at a Halloween party as absent of dystonia, however, on cross-examination, counsel for the plaintiff showed photos which Niehus herself took for the family that showed otherwise.
"I don't recall her ever once saying 'Ouch, don't do this, Kyle get off me. Hey, let's not wrestle and do this,'" Niehus said. "Mr. Kowalski did not stop this roughhousing. When I saw her bend to the floor behind, Mr. Kowalski did not say, 'Hey don't do that, you will hurt yourself.'"
Niehus said she was shocked by a particular request Maya Kowalski made, which was unsettling for her.
"This child never once displayed any signs of pain," she said. "I have dealt with a lot of people in 23 years in a lot of serious pain, and she never once displayed any kind of pain, but she specifically stated that she wanted morphine."
Medical staff between two different hospitals said they were concerned about both Beata and Maya Kowalski's psychological state and saw signs that led them to believe Maya's condition could be a factitious disorder.
Physician Dr. Lelah Bahar-Posey, who works in the emergency room of the hospital, was the first video deposition of the day. She said she was alarmed by the dosage of ketamine requested by Beata Kowalski and also by what she called "erratic" behavior.
"The mother was demanding 1,500 milligrams of ketamine, and I was unable to provide that service to the child in the emergency department, and the child was going to need to be admitted into the ICU to provide such high doses of ketamine if that was in fact what the child needed," Bahar-Posey said. "Her presentation, the way that she started shouting at the father, telling him not to touch the child demanding the ketamine over and over again, and not allowing me to do any testing, considering they were there for abdominal pain."
However, at the time, she said even though she suspected Munchausen By Proxy, she could not diagnose it and did not report it to the child abuse hotline right away as she was consulting with other doctors and hospital anesthesiologists.
"We have children that come to the emergency department with all kinds of parents and we have to deal with it," Bahar-Posey said. "People have all kinds of mental health problems. If I had to report every person who has a mental health problem to the abuse hotline, I think Florida's hotline will not be able to handle it."
Retired nurse practitioner Bonnie Rice who worked with Tampa General said in her video deposition that in many cases, Maya Kowalski could move normally until she was asked to move and demonstrated inconsistencies during her examination as well.
"We couldn't find anything physically wrong with her that would cause all these symptoms," Rice said. "She had fine normal motor movements when she wanted to do something and when she didn't, she would complain of pain or lose function and ask for help."
Rice, who had treated Maya before she was eventually diagnosed with CPRS, indicated that the team that worked on the case observed a co-dependency between mother and child that required psychiatric evaluation which Beata Kowalski refused.
Lawyers will review more evidence on Wednesday while jurors will be back in court on Thursday.
The Kowalski family is suing All Children's Hospital for more than $200 million.