Kriti Mehrotra
As a Henry Roosevelt-directed documentary living up to its title in every way imaginable, Netflix’s ‘Take Care of Maya’ can only be described as equal parts baffling, intriguing, haunting, and tragic. That’s because it incorporates not just exclusive interviews with a few key individuals but also archival footage to really shine a light upon the sadly terrible tale of CRPS suffering Maya Kowalski. Amongst those to thus be a significant part of this narrative was Child Abuse Pediatrician Dr. Sally Smith — so now, if you simply wish to learn more about her, we’ve got the details for you.
Who is Dr. Sally Smith?
It was reportedly back when Sally was quite young that she first developed a keen interest in both medicine as well as social services, only for them to continue expanding as the years passed. Therefore, of course, she unabashedly enrolled in Saint Louis University — School of Medicine in Missouri to pursue her primary health education almost as soon as she graduated high school. Then, she completed her internship in Pediatrics at All Children’s Hospital in Florida before returning to Missouri to finish her residency in the same field at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital.
The truth is Sally ultimately finished her studies with a fellowship in Ambulatory Pediatrics at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital as well, yet she soon decided to settle down in Florida for good. It hence comes as no surprise she ostensibly gained a majority of her experience as a practicing doctor here, just to end up collaborating with child welfare organizations such as Suncoast Center. In other words, she worked hard to become a Child Abuse Pediatrician, through which she acquired the power to analyze different situations prior to determining a kid’s safety from their own parents.
There was actually a point Sally held the aforecited contracted position at All Children’s Hospital and Bayfront Center, all the while serving as Medical Director for Pinellas County’s Child Protective Services inquiring team. However, by the time 2021 rolled around, she’d found herself embroiled in many controversies related to wrongly accusing at least a dozen parents of abuse, including Maya Kowalski’s mother, Beata. The reported fact she was often too hasty in her diagnosis by interviewing parents as well as kids for a total of fewer than 10 minutes before coming to a concrete conclusion didn’t help her either.
In fact, per the documentary, children in Sally’s jurisdiction of Pinellas County are almost 2½ times more likely to be ripped apart from their families than the state of Florida’s entire average. So, USA Today indicating there are hundreds of cases wherein she caused irreparable trauma and harm due to her accusations despite parents being proven innocent doesn’t seem far-fetched. Nevertheless, it’s extremely imperative to note that Sally has never been criminally charged with any wrongdoing in connection to her work as an active medical professional throughout her decades-long career.
Sally Smith Has Retired Now
From what we can tell, even though Sally is still listed as a contracted Pediatrician at both Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital as well as Bayfront Medical Center, the Florida resident has since seemingly retired. In other words, she likely maintains contact with these two institutions at the bare minimum capacity of a medical staff consultant, meaning she might work a case here or there if needed, but nothing more. We should also mention that while the Kowalski family had filed a civil lawsuit naming her plus Suncoast Center as two of four defendants who’d caused them severe emotional distress stemming from Maya’s 2016-2017 case, they’ve quietly settled for $2.5 million.
Read More: Cathi Bedy: Where is Maya Kowalski’s Social Worker Now?
