Doctor’s negligence led to baby’s decapitation during birth at Georgia hospital, lawsuit says

The parents claim medical staff at Southern Regional Medical Center initially forbade them from holding the baby, instead showing them the infant firmly wrapped in a blanket with his head raised to hide the decapitation.

An Atlanta-area hospital is the target of a lawsuit that claims a medical staff’s improper delivery tactics led to a baby’s decapitation during childbirth.

Jessica Ross, 20, went to the emergency room at Prime Healthcare Service, Inc. – operating as Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverdale, Georgia – after her water broke at 10 a.m. on July 9, Fox 5 News Atlanta reported.

Law firm Edmond & Lindsay LLP, which is representing the plaintiffs, said that the negligence and fraud suit names several defendants, including Southern Regional Medical Center, a doctor, nurses, and the medical group as a whole, according to WANF News.

“Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the family and all those impacted by this tragic event,” read a statement from the hospital system, WANF reported. “Our prayers also remain with the dedicated team of physicians, nurses, and staff at Southern Regional Medical Center who cared for this patient. Our commitment is to provide compassionate, quality care to every single patient, and this loss is heartbreaking.”

Data from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that Black newborns are three times more likely to die in hospitals than white newborns when treated by white doctors. The neonatal death rate among white patients under the care of white doctors is 290 per 100,000 births, while the Black infant mortality is 894. The data further notes a significant decrease in Black infant numbers when a Black physician is in charge.

The suit claims Ross was having a vaginal birth around 8:40 p.m. when the baby stopped descending because of shoulder dystocia. Dr. Tracey St. Julian, who is Black, allegedly tried various methods to deliver the baby vaginally, including providing traction to the baby’s head, according to Fox 5.

St. Julian decided to perform an emergency cesarean section around 11:49 p.m. and put “excessive tension” on the baby’s head, which led to the head detaching from the body. At 12:11 a.m., the doctor delivered the baby’s body and legs via C-section, followed by the head coming vaginally.

WANF reported the couple didn’t find out about the decapitation until four days after the birth.

The law firm alleges the doctor delayed informing Treveon Isaiah Taylor Jr.’s parents about what had occurred.

Instead, the couple claims, the medical staff forbade them from holding the baby after he passed, showing them the infant firmly wrapped in a blanket with the head raised to hide the decapitation.

The parents also assert in the lawsuit that staff members told them an autopsy wasn’t necessary and pressured them to cremate the remains.

“This caused immediate, profound emotional and mental anguish for (the plaintiffs) … emotional and mental anguish that they continue to experience and most probably will experience for the rest of their lives,” says the complaint, according to WANF News.

The suit calls for a jury trial, CNN reported. The family is seeking unspecified monetary damages, including for the value of the baby’s life, funeral costs and punitive damage.

The Georgia lawsuit comes as the federal government opens a civil rights investigation into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles due to concerns about racial disparities in maternal care and how it treats Black women who give birth there.

“Maternal health is a priority for the Biden-Harris Administration,” said a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson, theGrio previously reported, “and one in which the HHS Office for Civil Rights is working on around the country to ensure equity and equality in health care.”

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