Treveon Taylor Jr’s parents Jessica Ross and Treveon Taylor Sr sued a hospital in Georgia, USA, last year after claiming doctors didn’t tell them their son had been decapitated.
The death of a baby boy who was decapitated as his mother gave birth has been ruled as a homicide.
His cause of death was found to be a broken neck from human action, according to the couple’s attorney.
This week, the Clayton County Medical Examiner’s office ruled the child died as a result of a homicide.
Dad Treveon Sr accused the doctor who delivered the baby and Southern Regional Medical Center of lying to them about how their son died and not allowing them to see him.
‘We just want justice for our son,’ he said at a press briefing in Atlanta yesterday alongside his wife who was too heartbroken to talk. ‘They lied to us, they ain’t let us touch him, we didn’t like it.’
The hospital has denied any wrongdoing.
Treveon Taylor Jr’s death
When Jessica’s waters broke on July 9 last year, she was rushed to the hospital in Riverdale, where she was fully expecting to give birth to a ‘healthy baby’, said her lawyer Roderick Edmond.
But there were complications when the baby got stuck in the birth canal, likely due to shoulder dystocia, which is when a baby’s shoulder becomes stuck behind the pubic bone.
Typical steps to deal with the problem usually include manoeuvres or, in an emergency situation, a caesarean section.
Jessica, 20, claims she initially asked to have a C-section but was denied the procedure and forced to push unsuccessfully for three hours before the decision was finally made to carry out a caesarian.
The couple allege that Dr Tracey St Julian had applied excessive force to the baby while he was stuck in the birth canal in an attempt to try and pull him out, but in doing so, severed his head.
Treveon Jr’s lifeless body was then delivered by C-section.
‘No credible, no reasonably competent obstetrician should ever do this,’ Mr Edmond said.
A lawsuit filed by the family also claims that Dr St Julian, who is a member of a private practice and isn’t employed by the hospital, didn’t tell them about the decapitation when she spoke to them in the early hours of the morning on July 10.
They say they weren’t allowed to touch or hold the baby after he was delivered and that hospital staff encouraged them to get the baby cremated without a post-mortem examination.
This was, Mr Edmond said, an attempted cover up. ‘They wrapped the baby tightly in a blanket, propped the baby’s head up on a blanket,’ he said last year, claiming they were ‘basically making it look like there was no decapitation’.
Jessica and Treveon Sr only found out that their baby had been decapitated when they were contacted by the funeral home.
Willie A Watkins Funeral Home also alerted the medical examiner’s office on July 13 after employees believed it was ‘unusual’ they weren’t involved, given the nature of the child’s death.
Southern Regional Medical Center said in a statement last year that ‘this unfortunate infant death occurred in utero prior to the delivery and decapitation’.
It said it is ‘cooperating with all investigations’ and added: ‘Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the family and all those impacted by this tragic event.
‘Our commitment is to provide compassionate, quality care to every single patient, and this loss is heartbreaking for all involved.’
The medical examiner’s office has referred the incident to police.
Last month, a mum claimed her newborn baby died after a doctor jumped on her stomach while hurling racist abuse.
