The death of a baby boy, who parents say was decapitated during his delivery in July 2023, has been ruled a homicide by the Clayton County, Ga. Medical Examiner’s Office.
The couple at that time filed a lawsuit against the doctor and other hospital staff of Southern Regional Medical Center who allegedly participated in the gross coverup. They are also taking legal action against a pathologist accused of posting autopsy photos of the infant online.
Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr., of Clayton County said in their suit their infant suffered a sudden and rare condition known as shoulder dystocia — a life-threatening delivery complication in which one or both of the baby’s shoulders become locked in the mother’s pelvis, preventing it from descending further in the birth canal.
According to the medical examiner’s report this week, the baby’s death was due to “Shoulder dystocia, arrest of labor, and fetal entrapment in the birth canal.” The parents claim that Dr. Tracey St. Julain, who is not an employee of the hospital pulled on the baby’s head with such force during the vaginal delivery that it broke bones in the baby’s neck and severed the child’s spine, resulting in decapitation.
When the devastated young parents asked to hold the child they were told died in utero, that delivery room staff rapped the baby in a blanket and propped the child’s head up in an attempt to deceive the parents.
The original complaint, filed by the parents in August 2023 in state court in Clayton County, seeks a jury trial and unspecified damages.
The parents are represented by attorneys Cory Lynch and Dr. Roderick E. Edmond, who did not immediately comment on the medical examiner’s ruling Tuesday, but said they would hold a press conference on the case Wednesday.
According to the lawsuit and their attorneys, Ross, a hair stylist, and Taylor, who works in hospitality, were preparing to become first-time parents to the boy they had already named Treveon Isaiah Taylor, Jr.
Lawyers for the parents say there’s no documentation of a nurse or St. Julian “activating any emergency obstetrical protocol in a timely manner after the shoulder dystocia was recognized” nor is there a record that anyone recommended an emergency C-section or seeking help from other medical professionals.
The couple’s attorneys said it wasn’t until a funeral home handling the infant’s body informed Ross and Taylor several days later that they learned he had been decapitated. According to the medical examiner’s office, the funeral home contacted the Clayton County Medical Examiner’s Office because they thought it was unusual that the medical examiner’s office was not already involved.
The parents later hired a private pathologist, Atlanta physician Dr. Jackson L. Gates, to perform a post-mortem examination of the infant’s body. They filed a second lawsuit against Gates, who they say posted graphic video images of their infant son on his Instagram account.
The parents say in their lawsuit that they never gave Gates permission to video-record the postmortem examination and that Gates’ posting caused them “feelings of shock, anger, humiliation and outrage,” and that they “endured mental and emotional pain and suffering.”
Jessica Ross and her boyfriend Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr. earlier filed a lawsuit against Dr. Jackson Gates, accusing him of taking $2,500 to perform an autopsy on their deceased child and leaking the graphic photos to Instagram. Reporters claim the media included a full-face picture of the baby and videos of the boy’s organs.
The couple is expected to make a statement at a news conference in Atlanta, on Wednesday morning.
We will bring more information as this story develops.
