Georgia parents sue Atlanta hospital, accusing doctor of decapitating baby during delivery

Parents in Georgia sue Southern Regional Medical Center, a hospital in Atlanta, after accusing the doctor of decapitating their baby during delivery.

The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday, Associated Press reported.

According to lawsuit attorneys, the doctor used too much force, which ended in the decapitation of the baby’s head during delivery.

"Doctors 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."

Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr, the parents of the baby, attended a news conference in Atlanta where their attorneys announced the lawsuit against Dr Tracey St Julian and Southern Regional Medical Center.

The 20-year-old Ross went into labour with her first child on July 9.

"They were so excited about the birth of their first child,” said attorney Cory Lynch. "Unfortunately, their dreams and hopes turned into a nightmare that was covered up by Southern Regional Medical Center."

Southern Regional Medical Center explained in statements it could not discuss treatment for particular patients due to privacy laws, but it denies the allegations against it.

"Heartfelt thoughts and prayers” were with Ross and Taylor and their care providers," it said.

"Our commitment is to provide compassionate, quality care to every single patient, and this loss is heartbreaking,” the hospital said, adding that St. Julian was not an employee of the hospital, and it had "taken the appropriate steps in response to this unfortunate situation."

A spokeswoman, Kimberly Golden-Benner, said the hospital could not elaborate. 

St Julian is part of a healthcare group called Premier Women’s Obgyn has two locations and offers circumcisions, infertility treatment, and other services in addition to low- and high-risk obstetric care, according to its website. 

St Julian is a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist who has been practicing in the Atlanta area since January 2005, the website said.

The baby got stuck during delivery, but St Julian delayed a surgical procedure and failed to seek help quickly. Instead, she applied “ridiculously excessive force” on the baby’s head and neck to try to deliver it, attorney Roderick Edmond, who is also a physician, said.

According to the lawsuit, approximately three hours had passed before St Julian took Ross, 20, for a cesarean section. By then, a fetal monitor had stopped registering a heartbeat.

The cesarean section removed the baby’s legs and body, but the head was delivered vaginally, according to Edmond.

The couple asked for a C-section earlier, when the baby still could have survived, but were denied, Edmond added

The case emphasized on the higher rates of infant and maternal mortality subjected to Black women in the United States.