A US jury awarded $2.35m damages against a pathologist who shared – on social media – pictures of a baby decapitated during birth, reports NBC. The pathologist, who did not have the parents’ permission, defended his actions as part of a physician’s duty to inform the public of safety concerns in healthcare.
The parents, Treveon Taylor and Jessica Ross, will receive $2m in compensatory damages and an additional $250 000 in punitive damages against the pathologist, Dr Jackson Gates, whom they sued in September 2023 for invasion of privacy, and Medical Diagnostic Choices in Atlanta.
The baby was deceased at the time of his delivery on 10 July 2023, and on 12 July, Ross contracted Gates to conduct an autopsy for $2 500 – but neither parent gave Gates permission to share images of the autopsy, through the contract or verbally.
However, later that month, Gates uploaded multiple videos to his Instagram account showing “in graphic and grisly detail a post-mortem 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.
Gates told NBC News in March 2024, after initially being 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.
“It is not required by a physician to get consent to report a crime or some sort of health issue to the public,” he had said. “I’ve been doing this for 15 years, publishing my autopsy cases to explain to the public the victimisation of those persons who have died.”
The parents sent a cease-and-desist letter in August 2023 for the videos to be immediately removed, and filed a lawsuit against Gates the next 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, possibly due to shoulder dystocia, which 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 Caesarean section “while the baby was viable”, the parents’ attorney Roderick Edmond said in 2023, but 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 baby’s death.
Southern Regional Medical Centre denied the “allegations of wrongdoing”, saying “the unfortunate death occurred in utero prior to the delivery and decapitation”.
In February 2024, the Clayton County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the baby’s death a homicide caused by “actions of another person”, resulting from a fracture of cervical vertebrae in the spine.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Baby’s decapitation during labour ruled homicide
UK gynaecologist before medical tribunal after bungled delivery decapitates baby
Parents sue after baby decapitated during birth