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Officials have ruled the death of a baby allegedly decapitated during delivery a homicide.
The alleged "nightmare" situation unfolded last year at Southern Regional Medical Center in Clayton County, Georgia, according to a lawsuit filed by 20-year-old Jessica Ross, the mother of the baby, and her boyfriend, Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr.
On July 9, Ross had been in labor for 10 hours at Southern Regional Medical Center when her baby got stuck, according to the lawsuit. Her physician, Dr. Tracey St. Julian, who is named in the suit, allegedly attempted to pull the baby out for hours.
Doctors “pulled on the baby’s head and neck so hard and manipulated them so hard, that the bones in the baby’s skull, head and neck were broken,” the lawsuit states.
According to the suit, doctors later performed a C-section and found the baby decapitated. Doctors were able to pull the baby's body out of the mother's stomach during the procedure, but the head remained stuck in her birth canal.
Ross claimed she then had to deliver the baby's head vaginally. The couple alleged medical staff attempted to cover up the decapitation by telling them they didn't have access to a free autopsy and encouraging cremation. When the pair asked to see the child, doctors "propped the baby’s head on top of the blanket to make it appear like the head was attached when it wasn’t,” attorney Dr. Roderick Edmond said.
“This is one of the most sad, egregious, and horrific situations that I’ve ever seen,” Edmond said. “Their hopes turned into a nightmare that was covered up by the Southern Regional Medical Center.”
On Tuesday (February 6), the Clayton County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the baby's death a homicide, citing that the infant died from "fracture-dislocation" in his spinal cord and upper cervical spine, per TMZ.
The Clayton County Police Department said it's launched an investigation into the incident.
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