Jury awards millions to parents of decapitated baby whose autopsy was shared on social media
A jury in the US state of Georgia has awarded $US2.25 million in damages to the parents of a baby who was decapitated during delivery and whose autopsy was posted on social media without his parents' consent.
The parents, Treveon Taylor and Jessica Ross, will receive $US2 million in compensatory damages and an additional $US250,000 in punitive damages against the pathologist who posted the video, Dr. Jackson Gates, and Medical Diagnostic Choices in Atlanta.
The parents sued Gates in September 2023 for alleged invasion of privacy, fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
'While we are pleased that a jury punished Dr. Jackson Gates for his reprehensible behaviour, nothing can ease the pain that the parents, Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor, Sr., have experienced in losing their baby boy in such a horrific way,' attorneys for the family said in a statement this week.
Gates did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment.
The baby was deceased at the time of his delivery on July 10, 2023, the lawsuit stated.
On July 12, Ross contracted Gates to conduct an autopsy for $2,500.
Ross and Taylor did not permit Gates to share images of the autopsy, through the contract or verbally, according to the lawsuit.
Gates uploaded multiple videos to his Instagram account that month showing 'in graphic and grisly detail a postmortem examination of the decapitated, severed head of Baby Isaiah,' as well as the baby's body, the suit stated.
At the time, Gates' social media account showed a history of posting photos and videos of other autopsies.
That account has been taken down, but he has at least one other account on YouTube.
'After the decapitation of their baby, Gates poured salt into the couple's already deep wounds when he betrayed them,' the family's attorneys said.
Gates told NBC News in March 2024, after he was initially found liable in the case, that he had not violated the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) due to a clause that allows physicians to inform the public when there are safety concerns in health care.
'I have not violated HIPAA, it is not required by a physician to get consent to report a crime or some sort of health issue to the public,' Gates said at the time. 'I've been doing this for 15 years, publishing my autopsy cases to explain to the public the victimization of those persons who have died.'
The parents sent a cease-and-desist letter in August 2023 for the videos of their child to be immediately removed; they filed a lawsuit against Gates the following month.
Ross and Taylor also sued the facility where the delivery took place, Southern Regional Medical Centre, and obstetrician Dr. Tracey St. Julian — who is a member of a private practice and not the hospital — for 'ridiculously excessive force' used during the delivery of their son.
The baby did not properly descend during labour, likely due to shoulder dystocia, a condition that occurs when a baby's shoulder is caught behind the mother's pubic bone, according to the lawsuit against the medical providers.
St. Julian tried to deliver the baby vaginally using different methods, including excessive traction resulting in decapitation, skull and facial bone fractures and other injuries, the suit states.
Ross asked for a Cesarean section 'while the baby was viable,' the parents' attorney Roderick Edmond said at a news conference in 2023, and instead was told to keep pushing for three hours.
The baby was ultimately delivered through an emergency C section, which the lawsuit alleges St. Julian failed to perform in a 'timely and proper manner' and resulted in the child's death.
Southern Regional Medical Centre denied the 'allegations of wrongdoing' at the time and said in a statement.
'This unfortunate infant death occurred in utero prior to the delivery and decapitation,' they said.
In February 2024, the Clayton County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the baby's death a homicide caused by 'actions of another person,' stating his death resulted from a fracture of cervical vertebrae in the spine.
St. Julian's practice and lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Southern Regional Medical Centre.
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