Maya Kowalski shares heartbreaking letter she wrote parents after being banned from seeing them over doctors’ ‘abuse’ claims that drove her mom to suicide

A teenager who was separated from her family and held in a Florida hospital as a child after doctors accused her parents of abuse has shared a heartbreaking letter she wrote to them while she was being held.

Maya Kowalski, 17, was just 10 years old when she was removed by the state after doctors at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital accused her parents of faking the symptoms of her rare chronic pain disorder.

During her three-month stay, her mother Beata Kowalski was prohibited by law from seeing her. The stricken mother fell into depression and eventually took her own life in the midst of despair.

Now the family, whose story is at the center of the explosive Netflix documentary “Take Care of Maya,” is embroiled in a $200 million lawsuit against the hospital.

On Tuesday, a heartbreaking letter written by 10-year-old Kowalski during the divorce was presented to the court to determine whether it can be used as evidence.

Kowalski (seen here trying to hold back tears during an earlier hearing) submitted the emotional letter to see if it can be used as evidence in her family’s lawsuit against John’s Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, which is being led by attorney Greg Anderson (right)

In the note she tells her family: ‘I miss you so much that you don’t even know it. I cried so much when they called your names. I wish I could see you again. I pray every day that I will.”

Kowalski testified about the letter, telling Sarasota County Court, “At the time, I desperately missed my family.

‘I wasn’t actually allowed to have any contact with them. So in this document I express how much I missed them. I was very depressed,” Fox News reported.

Kowalski was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at the age of nine. The rare and debilitating condition was treated with doses of ketamine to help manage the pain until she relapsed in 2016 and was admitted to JHACH.

There, medics accused Beata of falsifying her daughter’s symptoms because she had Munchausen-by-proxy, a mental disorder in which healthcare providers draw attention to their wards.

The Florida Department of Children and Families and a state judge supported hospital staff’s suspicions of “medical child abuse” and placed Maya in DCF custody.

But Kowalski’s letter appears to support her family’s claim that she was not a victim of abuse. The note reads: ‘God knows you didn’t do anything, I wish everyone else knew the same.’

She adds that all she can do is “hope and wish” that her family can come visit and be “together forever and ever.”

The Kowalski are seeking $55 million in compensatory damages and $165 million in punitive damages, according to AndersonGlenn LLP, which filed the lawsuit on their behalf

Maya’s mother, Beata, (right) committed suicide after she was diagnosed with depressive mood and adjustment disorder after being separated from her then 10-year-old for 87 days

Unfortunately, her dream did not come true when her mother committed suicide on January 7, 2016, after being separated from her daughter for almost three months.

Kowalski’s pediatrician, Dr. John Wassenaar, who kept the letter, also testified Tuesday that it “underscored that she was not abused” and how much she loved her family.

The hearing was part of a civil trial expected to last eight weeks that began last week at the South County Courthouse in Venice, Florida.

In addition to punitive damages, Judge Hunter Carroll ruled that the jury can consider awarding punitive damages for battery and false imprisonment — if they side with the Kowalskis.

The allegations include claims that Kowalski’s CRPS was exacerbated as a result of Munchausen’s misdiagnosis-by-proxy.

It was also alleged that she was videotaped for 48 hours and on another occasion, stripped to her underwear and photographed with the permission of a guardian or the dependency court.

But JHACH stands by its initial assessment of medical abuse after a Sarasota County court ruled that staff had reasonable grounds to suspect abuse.

JHACH previously released a statement to DailyMail.com saying: “Our priority at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital is always the safety and privacy of our patients and their families.

“That’s why we follow strict federal privacy laws that limit the amount of information we can release about a specific case.

‘Our first responsibility is always to the child in our care. Our employees are required by law to notify Florida’s Department of Children and Families (DCF) if they suspect abuse or neglect.

“It is DCF and a judge – not Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital – who investigates the situation and makes the final decision on what course of action is in the best interest of the child.

‘We are determined to avoid any chilling effect on reporting requirements for suspected child abuse, to protect the most vulnerable among us.’