Take Care of Maya (2023)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
The story
In early 2015, 9-year-old Maya Kowalski begins suffering from severe chronic pain and physical symptoms. After a long search for answers, she is diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and begins a successful treatment regimen involving ketamine. However, a medical emergency in 2016 leads to a devastating confrontation with hospital staff who are unfamiliar with her condition. Suspecting abuse, the hospital contacts child protective services, leading to Maya's removal from her home. The film follows the Kowalski family's desperate struggle to navigate a complex legal and medical system to reunite with their daughter.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 2015, Maya Kowalski is diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and finds relief through ketamine treatments. In 2016, a relapse leads to an ER visit where doctors, unfamiliar with CRPS, suspect Munchausen syndrome by proxy and report the family to child protective services. Maya is taken into state custody, and her mother, Beata, is accused of abuse. The family hires lawyer Debra Salisbury to fight the state, discovering that Pinellas County has a disproportionately high rate of child removals. A judge issues a no-contact order between Beata and Maya. During this period, Beata dies by suicide after 87 days of separation. A reporter, Daphne Chen, later discovers that many other parents faced similar treatment at Johns Hopkins. It was later revealed that the hospital charged the family's insurance for 174 CRPS services while claiming Maya was lying. The family sued Johns Hopkins for $220 million. In late 2023, a jury awarded $261 million, which was later reduced by a judge. The award was eventually overturned on appeal in October 2025 and remanded for retrial.
- First release year
- 2023
- Runtime (minutes)
- 103
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Henry Roosevelt
- Genres
- documentary
- Themes
- Child welfare; Medical controversy; Parental rights; Systemic injustice
- Tone and mood
- Brutally sad; Sensational
- Premise and plot tags
- True Crime; Medical Drama; Legal Battle
- Reception
- The film received generally favorable reviews, though some critics noted it favored sensationalism over deep analysis of the relationship between privatized child welfare companies and hospitals.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 64 · scale: 100 · review count: 5
- Awards and nominations
- News and Documentary Emmy Awards · Outstanding Direction · 2024 · Nominated; News and Documentary Emmy Awards · Outstanding Research · 2024 · Nominated
- Production trivia
- The hospital charged the family for 174 different CRPS services while claiming the child was lying.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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