When a couple's baby was decapitated during delivery, the hospital allegedly tried to conceal the cause of the baby's death, according to a lawsuit filed by the couple in August 2023. Now, the baby's death has been ruled a homicide by the Clayton County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The office said the death occurred due to the “actions of another person." The baby's mom, Jessica Ross, went into labor on July 9, 2023. She was at full term when she went to Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverdale, Georgia, to have her baby.
Ross' doctor, Dr. Tracy St. Julian, reportedly tried to deliver the baby vaginally for hours and used “ridiculously excessive force” when trying to deliver the baby, according to Roderick Edmond, a doctor and attorney for the family.
The baby's cause of death was "fracture-dislocation with complete transection, upper cervical spine and spinal cord," according to the Clayton County Medical Examiner's Office. Lawyers representing Ross and her boyfriend, Treveon Taylor Sr., have said that shoulder dystocia, which is when the baby's shoulders get stuck during delivery, is an emergency. However, the lawyers allege the hospital did not respond properly when faced with this emergency.
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"When there’s a shoulder dystocia there’s certain tried and true things that must be done," Edmond said, reported Good Morning America. "And there should be an alert made to all people in the hospital so that other people can come get fresh eyes on the situation … we alleged that this was not done."
The couple's lawsuit also alleges the hospital tried to hide the decapitation from the couple. Edmond said that the by the time the doctor attempted a Cesarean section, only the baby's body was delivered. The head was delivered vaginally, but the lawsuit alleges that the doctor tried to hide this.
Ross and Treveon Taylor Sr. were aware that their baby had died during the delivery, but their lawsuit says Dr. St. Julian didn't tell them about the decapitation.
“When they wrapped the baby up tightly, they propped the baby’s head on top of the blanket to make it appear like the head was attached when it wasn’t,” Edmond alleged at an August press conference.
The hospital also allegedly pushed the couple to have their baby cremated and did not allow them to hold their baby.
They reportedly learned about the decapitation from the funeral home, according to Fox5.
The lawsuit filed by the couple alleged that the doctor "grossly negligently applied excessive traction on Treveon Isiah Taylor Jr.'s head and neck and grossly negligently failed to do a Cesarean section in a timely and proper manner, resulting in Treveon Isaiah Taylor Jr.'s decapitation and death."
The hospital and doctor have both denied the allegations of wrongdoing. While attorneys representing the doctor say the baby's injury happened after death, Edmond has said "no reasonably competent obstetrician should ever do this," reported the Associated Press.
The baby's father spoke publicly for the first time at the press conference on February 7, 2024.
“We just want justice for our son,” he said.
