U.S. medical examiner rules death of baby decapitated during delivery was a homicide
CTV
The death of a Georgia couple's baby that was decapitated during delivery has been classified by a medical examiner as a homicide, their attorneys announced Wednesday.
The death of a Georgia couple's baby that was decapitated during delivery has been classified by a medical examiner as a homicide, their attorneys announced Wednesday.
Treveon Taylor Jr.'s parents have sued the hospital and the doctor who delivered the baby in July. Both have denied wrongdoing.
The Clayton County Medical Examiner's Office found the immediate cause of the baby's death was a broken neck and said human action was to blame, according to an office statement distributed by attorneys at a news conference Wednesday.
The boy's parents, Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr., say Dr. Tracey St. Julian delayed a surgical procedure and failed to seek help quickly when the baby got stuck during delivery. Instead, they say she applied excessive force to the baby's head and neck.
"This is something that is clearly contraindicated," their attorney Roderick Edmond, who is also a physician, said Wednesday. "No credible, no reasonably competent obstetrician should ever do this."
Attorneys for St. Julian said they reject the finding that the baby's injury happened before death.
"Although tragic, that rare outcome has been reported in the medical literature and can happen in the absence of any wrongdoing by the physician, which is the case here," they said.
