‘Take Care of Maya’ case puts Munchausen by proxy in doctor spotlight

Physicians are taking note of a rise in both mild and severe cases of Munchausen syndrome by proxy — the condition at the center of Florida’s closely-watched “Take Care of Maya” trial that concluded this week.

Doctors tell The Post increased occurrences of the syndrome, where caregivers exaggerate a child’s ailment to elicit sympathy, are fueled by a number of factors — including the lure of social media attention, the flood of medical information available online and an eroding trust in the medical establishment.

“It’s still rare, but you see it more often now,” said one Fort Myers-based pediatrician. “I’m not taking a position on the Maya Kowalski case here one way or another, or how the hospital handled the situation overall. But it’s a concern.”

Last month, Bronx mom Tajahnae Brown was arrested and charged with first-degree assault after authorities say she poisoned her four-year-old daughter with “life-threatening levels” of anti-seizure medications.

Investigators alleged that Brown made 190 trips to various providers to obtain the unnecessary drugs for her child.

In July, Texas mom and social media influencer Jessica Gasser was arrested and accused of faking her 3-year-old’s sickness and causing medical harm.

Cops said the 27-year-old gave her daughter 28 needless shots and ferried her to dozens of doctor’s appointments across three states to keep up the charade.

The Fort Myers physician said such cases are the extreme end of a spectrum of strident parental involvement in their children’s care — from overruling doctors in rejecting routine procedures to full-blown Munchausen by proxy cases where kids are put at clear risk.

“People go to WebMD now and they think they know what is going on with their kid,” he said. “With some people it becomes obsessive. I see more parents pushing back now than ever. It’s a real issue.”

A Jacksonville-based doctor echoed those sentiments, asserting that she fields more skepticism from parents now than in years past.

“Honestly, I think a lot of this can be traced to the COVID vaccine controversy,” she said. “There were a lot of people rejecting it. In a lot of cases it put them at odds with their doctors. I think that led to a skepticism with other things beyond COVID. And that’s unfortunate. It has real consequences.”

This doctor drew a parallel between a rise in home-schooling of children and what she called “home-doctoring.”

In some of the more appalling Munchausen by proxy cases, social media attention — and the potential for illicit profit from fundraisers — are driving forces, the MDs said.

“Before, there wasn’t a lot of avenues for people to get something out of manufacturing or making something up,” the Fort Myers physician claimed. “That’s changed now. I have to believe it’s playing a role.”

While the practitioners declined to take a position on the jury’s verdict in the Maya Kowalski case, both said they hoped it didn’t have a chilling effect on the willingness of doctors to call out questionable parental care.

“Can hospitals mishandle cases?” the Jacksonville doctor said. “Of course. There’s a lot of gray area here. But there are instances where there’s a need for intervention.”

A Florida jury ruled Thursday that Maya, now 17, was wrongfully imprisoned at Saint Petersburg’s Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, finding the facility liable to the tune of $261 million.

Maya’s mother, Beata Kowalski, had pushed doctors to give her aggressive ketamine treatments for what she said was a severe neurological disorder.

The hospital referred the case to Florida child welfare authorities, and a judge later made Maya a ward of the state.

After three months of separation from her daughter, Beata Kowalski committed suicide in January 2017.

Hospital attorneys had argued that staffers reported the mother out of a legitimate concern for Maya’s welfare.

The family’s attorneys countered that the facility was wrongly dismissive of the parents’ claims that Maya suffered from Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome and had inappropriately isolated her.

The case was chronicled in a Netflix documentary “Take Care of Maya,” which debuted on the streaming service June 19 and was viewed 13.8 million times in the first two weeks after its release.