Jury Awards Massive Settlement To GA Parents After Baby Decapitated During Delivery

ATLANTA, GA — The parents of a baby who was decapitated during delivery at a Georgia hospital were awarded a $2.25 million settlement after a doctor posted a video of the child's autopsy on social media, according to a report.

Jessica Ross and Treveon Taylor Sr. sued Dr. Jackson Gates and Gates Rapid Diagnostic Laboratory in September 2023, alleging their privacy was invaded and emotional distress was inflicted upon them after Gates posted a video of a baby's autopsy on Instagram.

Ross and Taylor had hired Gates to perform a private autopsy after the newborn was decapitated during delivery in July 2023 at Southern Regional Medical Center.

While Gates said he only shared the video of the autopsy for educational purposes, a jury later found him liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and fraud.

In a statement obtained by WSB-TV, the baby's family said they were pleased with the jury's decision after Gates “poured salt into the couple’s already deep wounds.”

“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," the statement read. "We believe that the jury sent a powerful message that doctors must always consider the feelings of their patients and, in this case, their clients."

Ross and Taylor also filed a lawsuit against Southern Regional seeking punitive damages after they claimed a physician broke their baby's face, head and neck bones during delivery. The couple claimed they were not informed of what happened to their newborn until four days later.

Ross' water broke around 10 a.m. on July 9, 2023. Moments later, she was in the labor and delivery unit at Southern Regional, attorneys said. Ross was in labor for about 10 hours before becoming fully dilated around 8:40 p.m.

She was told to start pushing, but the baby's shoulders couldn't fit through the pelvic girdle, attorneys said. This is known as shoulder dystocia, during which a baby's shoulders can get stuck during a vaginal delivery.

"When the womb was open, the feet came out, the body came out, and there was no head," attorneys said at the news conference, saying the head was stuck in the vagina.

Around midnight, Ross was called into a STAT Cesarean section procedure to complete the baby's delivery. Her attorney stated that the delivery time was 12:11 a.m. on July 10.

Taylor and Ross accused Dr. Tracey St. Julian of applying too much pressure while pulling on the baby's head during the initial phase of the delivery, breaking bones in the infant's neck, face and head.

They accused nurses of not advocating for an immediate C-section, and they accused Southern Regional of not seeking quicker assistance from the onsite obstetrician.

Their attorneys claimed the baby's head had been delivered separately from the rest of the body.

Attorneys claimed Ross and Taylor were denied the ability to hold their baby after delivery. They accused hospital officials of tightly wrapping the infant so the couple could not see what happened.

"In an attempt to basically misrepresent, miscommunicate to the family, when they wrapped this baby up tightly, they propped the baby's head up on top of the blanket to make it appear as if the baby's head was attached when it wasn't," their attorneys said

Ross later paid Gates $2,500 to conduct a private autopsy, after which Gates was accused of posting the autopsy on his public social media page.

Gates acknowledged the posting to Atlanta News First, the outlet reported.

“I only showed a picture of the baby’s face and addressed the issue," he previously told the media outlet. "I did not divulge any information of the baby’s identity or divulge anything about the family."

The infant was previously identified by the Clayton County Medical Examiner's Office as Treveon Isaiah Taylor Jr., according to past reports.

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