Update, Aug 10, 2023 at 3:27 PM:
Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverdale, Ga. responded to allegations that a doctor “decapitated” a baby during childbirth.
The hospital issued a statement on Thursday, a day after a lawsuit was filed on behalf of Jessica Ross and her boyfriend Treveon Isaiah Taylor, Sr.
During a press conference on Wednesday, lawyers for the couple said Southern Regional was “negligent” when Dr. Tracey St. Julian decapitated the couple’s son, Treveon Taylor, Jr.
“The feet came out, the body came out and there was no head,” attorney Roderick Edmond, who is also a physician, said.
The lawsuit seeks compensation from Dr. St. Julian, several nurses and the hospital.
However, a hospital spokesperson said Dr. St. Julian “is not and never has been an employee of the hospital.”
Furthermore, the hospital said “this unfortunate infant death occurred in utero [in the uterus] prior to the delivery and decapitation.”
The hospital insisted it “voluntarily reported the death to the Clayton County Medical Examiner’s office and is cooperating with all investigations.”
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy on the baby. The details of the autopsy were not released.
The Clayton County Police Department said it opened an investigation into the infant’s death on July 13, four days after the delivery.
Originally published on: Aug 10, 2023 at 10:18 AM:
A Georgia mom whose baby’s head was decapitated during stillbirth says nurses propped the head onto his body to conceal what had happened.
Jessica Ross, 20, and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr., are suing Dr. Tracey St. Julian and Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverdale, Georgia, just south of Atlanta.
Ross said she went to the hospital on July 9 to deliver her son, Trevor Isaiah Taylor, Jr, DailyMail.com reports.
She said the doctor delayed a C-section and the baby’s shoulders “got stuck” during a vaginal delivery which began at 8:40 p.m.
However, the doctor reportedly informed Ross that the fetal monitor was not registering a heartbeat, meaning the fetus was stillborn prior to delivery.
Still, Ross claims the doctor failed to deliver the baby earlier when they asked for a C-section. Ross was diagnosed with diabetes last year and she was a high-risk pregnancy.
The couple believe their son may have been alive when they asked for a C-section earlier.
Ross said she was awake during the three-and-a-half hour C-section procedure and saw her son’s head delivered vaginally while his torso and legs were delivered via C-section.
She said the doctor applied “ridiculously excessive force” on the baby’s head and neck to try and dislodge his head from the birth canal.
When Ross demanded to hold her stillborn son, she said the baby was tightly wrapped in a blanket with his “head propped on top of his body” to make it appear that it was still attached.
She claims she didn’t know the baby was decapitated until the funeral home staff told her.
The grieving couple is accusing the hospital of a cover up.
The lawsuit is seeking compensation for their “pain and suffering” and the loss of their baby son.
Dr. St. Julian is a board-certified OB/GYN who has been practicing in the Atlanta area since January 2005, according to Premier Women’s OB/GYN website.
Watch the news report below.
