*The Clayton County Medical Examiner’s Office said that homicide was the manner of death of the Georgia baby that was decapitated during childbirth at Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverdale last year.
According to The Huffington Post, the office did not accuse the hospital of intentionally killing the infant. Pregnancy-induced diabetes and premature rupture of membranes were also cited as factors in the baby’s death, according to the medical examiner’s office.
We reported previously via CNN that the mother, Jessica Ross, 20, alleges her baby was decapitated during delivery on July 10, 2023. She filed a lawsuit last month against Dr. Tracey St. Julian, the hospital, and others involved in the delivery, according to legal filings.
The complaint filed in Georgia’s Clayton County alleges the Southern Regional Medical Center attempted to conceal the manner of death of the baby from the family. The baby, named after his father, Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr., was delivered at full term, according to the family attorney.
As RadarOnline reports, the suit alleges that “in the process of trying to delivery this baby, [St. Julian] pulled on the baby’s head and neck so hard and manipulated them so hard that the bones in the baby’s skull, face and neck were broken.”
The parents claim in the lawsuit that their hospital and doctor tried to cover up what happened.
Shoulder dystocia reportedly caused the baby’s stuck position.
“Dr. St. Julian was faced with a dire obstetrical emergency where the mother’s life was in peril as well as the baby’s,” the doctor’s attorneys stated, per The Huff Post. “Once it became clear that the baby did not survive the underlying severe shoulder dystocia (an unpreventable and unpredictable complication of delivery), the priority shifted to saving the mother’s life, which was thankfully accomplished.”
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According to the lawyers, it is “salaciously false” that St. Julian pulled so hard during the vaginal delivery that the baby’s head separated from his torso.
“The trauma to the body and head of the fetus occurred post-mortem while Dr. St. Julian was still attempting to deliver the fetus by cesarean and save Ms. Ross’s life,” the attorneys wrote, per The Huff Post. “Any suggestion to the contrary is false and is meant to sensationalize this tragedy and to mislead the public and potential jurors about what actually occurred.”
The parents learned about the decapitation from a funeral home employee days after it occurred, according to the couple.
*This article contains additional reporting from CNN.
READ MORE: Parents of Decapitated Baby Sue Doctor for Sharing Photos Online
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