Jury awards $2.25 million to parents of baby decapitated at birth

A jury in Fulton County, Georgia, has awarded the parents of a baby boy $2.25 million in damages after he was decapitated during his delivery, and his autopsy was posted on social media without their consent.

Key Takeaways:

• Parents of a baby boy who was decapitated during birth have received over $2M in damages.

• The hospital allegedly attempted to disguise the baby boy’s decapitation; it was the funeral home that alerted the baby’s parents.

• The pathologist hired by the family to perform an autopsy posted video of the autopsy to his Instagram account without the parents’ permission.

The Details:

Treveon Taylor and Jessica Ross will receive $2 million in compensatory damages and an additional $250,000 in punitive damages against pathologist Dr. Jackson Gates — who posted the autopsy video of their son — and Medical Diagnostic Choices in Atlanta.

Taylor and Ross sued Gates in September 2023 for alleged invasion of privacy, fraud, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

“While we are pleased that a jury punished Dr. Jackson Gates for his reprehensible behavior, nothing can ease the pain that the parents, Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor, Sr., have experienced in losing their baby boy in such a horrific way,” attorneys for the family said in a statement.

The baby boy, Isaiah, died during delivery on July 10, 2023. On July 12, Ross contracted Gates to conduct an autopsy. Gates shared images of that autopsy to social media without permission. According to the lawsuit, the photos showed “in graphic and grisly detail a postmortem examination of the decapitates, severed head of Baby Isaiah.”

Attorneys for the family said, “After the decapitation of their baby, Gates poured salt into the couple’s already deep wounds when he betrayed them.”

Gates’ Instagram account has been removed but he continues to have an active YouTube account.

$2M to parents of baby decapitated during childbirth | FOX 5 News

The Backstory:

On July 9, 2023, Ross went into labor with her son Treveon Isaiah Taylor, Jr. at Southern Medical Regional Center in Clayton County, Georgia. It was a difficult labor that included shoulder dystocia, a condition in which one or both of the baby’s shoulders get stuck in the mother’s pelvis. This often calls for a C-section delivery, but doctors did not offer Ross a C-section. Instead, the doctor, Tracey St. Julian, attempted to pull the baby out — and, horrifically, decapitated him in the process.

The medical examiner’s office found that Isaiah’s cause of death was a “fracture-dislocation with complete transection, upper cervical (C1-C2) spine, and spinal cord,” due to “shoulder dystocia, arrest of labor, and fetal entrapment in the birth canal.” Other factors included gestational diabetes and premature rupture of membranes but ultimately his death was caused by the “actions of another person” and was ruled a homicide.

St. Julian is accused of applying too much force on the baby’s head and neck during the delivery. Ross and Taylor filed a lawsuit against her and the hospital as well. It remains to be seen if the district attorney files charges against her.

Antonio Veal, St. Julian’s attorney, claims, “The separation of the head from the fetal body occurred post-mortem, and any assertion to the contrary is false. Although tragic, that rare outcome has been reported in the medical literature and can happen in the absence of any wrongdoing by the physician which is the case here.”

Ross and Taylor allege that the hospital workers did not let them hold their son after he died, showing Isaiah to them only after they wrapped him tightly in a blanket with his head propped on top, according to a statement. Staff are also alleged to have pressured the couple to cremate the remains and told them an autopsy was not necessary.

The couple didn’t know about the decapitation until the funeral home called them.

“I just felt a sense of urgency to say, ‘Hey listen, this is not right, this is not right. Never seen it before,’” said Sylvania Watkins, general manager of the Willie A. Watkins Funeral Home.

She said she found it odd that the hospital sent a decapitated baby directly to the funeral home instead of to the medical examiner’s office or to law enforcement. The funeral home contacted the medical examiner’s office, launching the investigation.