A young Georgia mother, 20, has accused a doctor of decapitating her baby during delivery and then resting his head on his body to hide what they did, a lawsuit says.
Jessica Ross, 20, and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr. are suing Dr. Tracey St. Julian and Southern Regional Medical Center, a hospital in Riverdale, Georgia, where Ross gave birth to their son Treveon Isaiah Taylor Jr. on July 9.
According to the lawsuit, the boy’s shoulders became stuck during a vaginal delivery that began at 8:40 p.m. that night.
dr St. Julian is accused of delaying a cesarean operation and not seeking help quickly. Instead, she applied “ridiculously excessive force” to the baby’s head and neck to deliver him while Ross was still awake, claims attorney and doctor Roderick Edmond.
The baby’s body and legs were delivered three and a half hours later by cesarean section at 12:11 am, his head was delivered vaginally.
When Ross and Taylor demanded to see and hold their child, they claimed the baby was wrapped tightly in a blanket and his head was “propped on his body” to make it appear as if he was still attached to it. They finally found out about the beheading at the funeral home, they claim.
Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr. (pictured) attended a news conference in Atlanta on Wednesday discussing their lawsuit against Dr. Tracey St. Julian and Southern Regional Medical Center announced and claimed their baby boy was decapitated at birth
The lawsuit alleges that Dr. St. Julian told Ross and her family not about the beheading when she spoke to them at around 5am on July 10.
The grieving couple accused the hospital of trying to cover up the incident by preventing them from doing an autopsy and encouraging them to have their son cremated.
“They were so excited about the birth of their first child,” said attorney Cory Lynch. “Unfortunately, her dreams and hopes turned into a nightmare that was covered up by Southern Regional Medical Center.”
The lawsuit seeks compensation from Ross and Taylor for the suffering and death of their baby boy and for the “intense mental and physical anguish and trauma” Ross endured.
Edmond claims that by the time Ross was brought in for the cesarean, a fetal monitor had stopped registering a heartbeat.
The couple had even asked for a cesarean section earlier, when the baby might have survived, but was refused, Edmond said.
In addition to Dr. St. Julian and Premier Womens’ OB/GYN, LLC — a health care group to which St. Julian is affiliated — are also accused in the couple’s lawsuit of gross negligence by several of the hospital’s nurses, who the couple allege did not follow proper procedures when they knew that the baby’s shoulders were stuck.
Calls to the St Julian’s office went unanswered and an email message was not immediately returned.
Southern Regional said in statements it could not discuss the treatment of certain patients because of data protection laws, but denies the allegations made against the company.
His “sincere thoughts and prayers” are with Ross and Taylor and their caregivers, it said.
“Our goal is to provide compassionate, quality care to each and every patient, and this loss is heartbreaking,” the hospital said.
It later added that St Julian’s was not an employee of the hospital and had “taken the appropriate steps in response to this unfortunate situation”.
Attorney Roderick Edmond, from left, along with Treveon Isaiah Taylor, Sr., Jessica Ross and Attorney Cory Lynch, speaks during a news conference
Her attorneys dropped the lawsuit against Dr. Tracey St. Julian and Southern Regional Medical Center, a hospital in Riverdale, Georgia, where Ross went on July 9 to give birth to their son. Riverdale is about 13 miles south of Atlanta
“They were so excited about the birth of their first child,” said attorney Cory Lynch. “Unfortunately, her dreams and hopes turned into a nightmare that was covered up by Southern Regional Medical Center.”
A spokeswoman, Kimberly Golden-Benner, said the hospital could not provide further details.
Premier Women’s OB/GYN has two locations and offers circumcisions, infertility treatments and other services in addition to low- and high-risk obstetric care, according to its website.
St. Juilan is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist who has been practicing in the Atlanta area since January 2005, the website said.
He said the case highlights the higher infant and maternal mortality rates among black women.
Ross and Taylor, 21, did not speak at Wednesday’s press conference.
The lawsuit alleges gross negligence, fraud and willful infliction of emotional distress. It seeks indefinite punitive damages.