Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr. (both pictured here) said Dr. Tracey St. Julian decapitated their son, Treveon Isaiah Taylor Jr., at Southern Regional Medical Center. (Screenshot: Atlanta News First; image of Ross and Taylor: Family handout)
A couple in Georgia claims their doctor decapitated their baby during delivery and that the doctor and hospital staff tried to cover it all up in a case police confirm they are investigating.
Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr. on Wednesday sued Prime Healthcare Services, which is doing business as Southern Regional Medical Center in the city of Riverdale. They are also suing the doctor and nurses.
“20-year-old Jessica Ross and her boyfriend Treveon Isaiah Taylor, Sr. were eagerly awaiting the birth of their first child July 9 but were devastated to learn that not only did their baby not survive the delivery, he was tragically decapitated in the process,” said a plaintiff statement.
The parents named their son Treveon Isaiah Taylor, Jr.
According to the lawsuit, the baby’s shoulders got stuck in the vaginal canal.
Ross pushed for three hours without a delivery, the complaint stated.
The obstetrician “negligently applied excessive force on the baby’s head and neck during the attempted vaginal delivery,” causing decapitation, the plaintiff team said in a statement.
Both the complaint and the hospital identified the doctor as Tracey L. St. Julian.
She and nurses are also accused of failing to do a C-section in a timely manner and failing to call for help in a timely manner.
When it was all said and done, the baby’s legs and torso emerged through the C-section, according to the plaintiffs.
“The baby’s head was then delivered vaginally,” they said.
From the complaint:
As a direct and proximate cause of Defendants’ gross negligence, Trevion Isaiah Taylor, Jr.’s attempted vaginal delivery on July 9, 2023, was excruciating and traumatic. Treveon Isaiah Jr. suffered tremendous pain and suffering as Dr. St. Julian applied tremendously excessive tension traction on his head and neck…such tension and traction that it resulted in massive blunt force trauma to his head and neck, multiple skull and facial bone fractures, hemorrhaging on his brain, hemorrhaging in his neck and around his spinal cord, multiple fractures of the bones in his neck…all ultimately resulted in his decapitation.
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Plaintiffs accuse the hospital and doctor of trying to cover up the horrifying truth. The doctor allegedly kept the couple in the dark about the decapitation when talking to them a few hours after the delivery.
Hospital workers allegedly lied to the couple, telling them that a free autopsy was not an option under the circumstances.
“The complaint alleges that this false information was given to avoid a forensic autopsy and to obstruct the gathering of evidence,” authorities said. “Furthermore, the complaint alleges that healthcare providers at the hospital pressured the young couple to cremate their baby in an attempt to destroy evidence.”
Although the parents demanded to see and hold their baby, hospital staff told them they were not allowed to touch or hold the baby, the complaint stated.
“Hospital staff allowed the young couple to only view their dead child,” the plaintiff team wrote. “During this viewing, their baby was wrapped tightly in a blanket with his head propped on top of his body in a manner such that those viewing him could not identify that he had been decapitated.”
Healthcare providers allegedly encouraged the mother and father of having their son cremated instead of being sent to a funeral home for burial.
It was only on July 13 — several days after delivery and a day after Ross left the hospital — that staff told them about the decapitation, the statement said.
In a statement, South Regional Medical Center said privacy laws and HIPAA barred them from discussing the care and treatment of specific patients. Nonetheless, they denied the allegations. They said that St. Julian is not an employee of the hospital.
“The hospital has taken the appropriate steps in response to this unfortunate situation,” they said. “Our commitment is to provide compassionate, quality care to every single patient, and this loss is heartbreaking.”
In seeking clarification on St. Julian’s employment status, Law&Crime asked if she was simply the couple’s doctor and used the hospital for the delivery.
“That would be correct,” hospital spokesperson Kimberly Golden-Benner told Law&Crime. “She is on medical staff with privileges at this hospital.”
St. Julian did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime request for comment.
“Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the family and all those impacted by this tragic event,” the hospital wrote. “Our prayers also remain with the dedicated team of physicians, nurses and staff at Southern Regional Medical Center who cared for this patient. While our sympathies go out to the family, Southern Regional Medical Center denies the allegations in the Complaint referencing the hospital. Since this matter is in litigation, we cannot provide additional statements.”
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