A Georgia woman and her partner are suing the woman’s doctor after they reportedly unintentionally decapitated the couple’s child during delivery.
Attorneys filed the lawsuit on Wednesday on behalf of Jessica Ross, 20, and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr., 21, alleging that the doctor used too much force and decapitated the couple’s baby, according to NBC 5 DFW.
The lawsuit is against Dr. Tracey St. Julian and Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverdale, Georgia, which is located about 15 miles south of Atlanta.
“They were so excited about the birth of their first child,” said attorney Cory Lynch at a press conference in Atlanta. “Unfortunately, their dreams and hopes turned into a nightmare that was covered up by Southern Regional Medical Center.”
Southern Regional said it could not comment on the case, citing privacy laws, but it did issue a statement offering “thoughts and prayers” to the family.
“Our commitment is to provide compassionate, quality care to every single patient, and this loss is heartbreaking,” the statement continued.
It noted that St. Julian is not an employee of the hospital, and the medical center has taken the “appropriate steps in response to this unfortunate situation.”
St. Julian is board certified and has been practicing since 2005.
The lawsuit alleges that the baby got stuck during the July 9 delivery, and St. Julian failed to get help quickly or take the necessary actions to save the child.
Instead, she used “ridiculously excessive force” on the baby’s head in an attempt to dislodge the child, claims attorney Roderick Edmond, who is also a physician. It was reportedly three hours from that point that St. Julian took the mother for a cesarean section, but by then, the baby no longer had a heartbeat, Edmond alleges.
The cesarean section reportedly removed the baby’s torso and legs, while the head was delivered vaginally. Edmond said that the couple asked for a cesarean section earlier in the labor, and if done at that time, the baby would have survived.
Edmond also accused the hospital of going out of its way to hide the decapitation from the parents by placing the child’s head atop its body and trying to make it look as if the baby was still intact.
The lawsuit alleges gross negligence, fraud, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Southern Regional Medical Center later released a second statement, claiming “this unfortunate infant death occurred in utero prior to the delivery and decapitation” and reiterating that “Dr. St. Julian is not and never has been an employee of the hospital.”
On Thursday, the Clayton County Medical Examiner’s Office released a statement saying it had opened an investigation into “the infant death of Traveon Isaiah Taylor, Jr., who was decapitated during childbirth at an Atlanta area hospital.”
The medical examiner’s office said it was first notified of the infant’s death four days after the delivery, on July 13, by the Willie A. Watkins Funeral Home.
Although the family had already had a private autopsy performed, the county ME requested a second autopsy of the body by the pediatric forensic pathologist at the Georgia Bureau of Investigations Medical Examiner’s Office. The results are “pending review of the medical findings, medical records review, and investigation reports,” the statement noted.
Additionally, the county ME office notified the state’s medical board and board of nursing about the infant’s death, requesting that they investigate the role of the doctors and nurses involved in the incident.
The Clayton County Police Department is also investigating the infant’s death.
“You have so many people looking at this from so many different angles that are completely independent from each other,” Brian Byars, director of the Clayton County Medical Examiner’s Office, said in an interview with Atlanta News First.
“I have no doubt the truth will come out, and the public should rest assured they will get an honest answer and an honest review of what happened,” he added.