Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr. say they hired Dr. Jackson Gates to perform an autopsy on their son, Treveon Isaiah Taylor Jr., who died during a botched delivery. Gates took video of the autopsy and posted it to Instagram without their permission, they said. (Image of Ross and Taylor: Family handout; screenshot of Gates in a 2020 video from his YouTube account, The Institute of Pathology and Laboratory Medical Science)
The parents of a dead baby, who was decapitated during a botched delivery, trusted another doctor to perform an autopsy on the child, but this doctor recorded the procedure and posted it to Instagram without getting or seeking their permission, according to a lawsuit filed in Fulton County, Georgia.
Dr. Jackson Gates is being sued for alleged invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and fraud.
As previously reported, the plaintiffs said the mother, Jessica Ross, went into labor in early July and went to Southern Regional Medical Center.
She and the father, Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr., claim that Dr. Tracey St. Julian decapitated their son, Treveon Isaiah Taylor Jr., during a botched delivery.
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 previously reported statement.
From the complaint against St. Julian and the hospital:
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.
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.”
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 plaintiff’s statement said.
The hospital has said that St. Julian did not work for them and that she was only using their facility. They assert that the baby’s death “occurred in utero prior to the delivery and decapitation,” that they voluntarily reported the death to the Clayton County Medical Examiner’s Office, and were cooperating with all investigations.
St. Julian has not responded to a Law&Crime request for comment.
More Law&Crime coverage: Texas woman sentenced to death for killing pregnant friend, stealing unborn child
Enter Dr. Jackson Gates. According to the new complaint, Ross signed a contract with him on July 12 to do the autopsy.
The lawsuit — filed on Sept. 1 but recently reported — said that he posted on July 14 video that “showed in graphic and grisly detail a postmortem examination of the decapitated, severed head of Baby Isaiah.”
Gates took it down but then, on July 21, put up two more, according to the complaint. Again, these allegedly showed the autopsy in horrific detail.
“The plaintiffs were informed about the posting of these videos on social media, resulting in the plaintiffs experiencing feelings of shock, anger, humiliation and outrage,” the complaint stated.
A plaintiff’s statement said they had paid Gates $2,500 for the autopsy.
Ross and Taylor Sr. sent a cease and desist letter through their attorneys on Aug. 10, telling Gates to take down the videos.
The Instagram account named in the lawsuit is set to private as of Wednesday. Gates did not immediately respond to Law&Crime.
“After suffering one of the most heartbreaking losses any family could ever endure, Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor, Jr. had salt poured into their unfathomable emotional wounds when they discovered that video of their baby’s very graphic medical examination had been made public by the very doctor they entrusted to conduct the autopsy,” the attorneys for the family said in a statement to Law&Crime. “This is one of the most egregious and outrageous cases of ‘clout chasing’ we have ever encountered. Dr. Jackson Gates attempted to exploit our clients’ horrific loss to boost his own social media profile without permission of the family. We intend to ensure that Dr. Gates is held accountable for this unbelievable invasion of our clients’ privacy. We have also reported this incident to the medical examiner’s board for their investigation.”
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
