Georgia couple files lawsuit after alleging baby was decapitated during delivery

RIVERDALE, Ga. — WARNING: The details of this story are disturbing and may be graphic for some.

A Georgia family is suing the doctor they say decapitated their child during birth.

The family is suing Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverdale, Georgia, which is south of Atlanta, our sister station WSB-TV in Atlanta reported.

Jessica Ross, 20, went into labor with her first child at the hospital July 9. The lawsuit alleges that after 10 hours of labor, the baby got stuck and Dr. Tracey St. Julian, the family’s doctor, continued to try and pull the baby out for hours.

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Doctors allegedly “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,” WSB-TV reported.

The family claims in the lawsuit that hours later, the doctors performed a C-section. It was then that they found the baby decapitated. The doctors allegedly didn’t tell Ross and her partner, Treveon Taylor Sr., and tried to cover up what happened, telling them they didn’t have a right to a free autopsy and encouraging the couple to cremate the baby.

“When they wrapped the baby up tightly, they 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.

It wasn’t until the funeral home raised concerns that the baby’s parents learned of what actually happened, WSB-TV reported. At that point, it had been four days since Ross went into labor.

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“This is one of the most sad, egregious, and horrific situations that I’ve ever seen. Their hopes turned into a nightmare that was covered up by the Southern Regional Medical Center,” Edmond said.

WSB-TV tried to contact St. Julian but didn’t receive a response. CNN reported St. Julian was not an employee of the hospital where this took place.

In a statement to CNN, Southern Regional Medical Center referenced its patient privacy laws and said it was unable to discuss what happened, but said it “denies the allegations in the complaint referencing the hospital.”

The case is currently under investigation by the Clayton County police.

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