Police are now investigating after a lawsuit alleging a baby was decapitated during delivery on July 9 was filed in Clayton County against Southern Regional Medical Center and others.
Surgical tech here. I’ve done a metric fuck-ton of c-sections, and those cases can be brutal as hell. Never been in on a vaginal delivery, cuz that’s not OR territory, but c-sections are the kind of case you’re on high alert for the entire time cuz shit can go south really fast for both mother and baby. The amount of force I’ve seen (and contributed to) applied to get a baby out is definitely in dismemberment territory if there was some defect at play.
Some of the most horrific things I’ve seen in the OR have been in the c-section room. But they’re the kind of thing that if you don’t do, it’s basically a death sentence for the mom or the baby.
Based on my own experience, I’d give the doc and delivery team the benefit of the doubt in terms of the operation: extreme circumstances can call for an extreme response, and when that doesn’t work, the result is also extreme. This is a case that will haunt the staff involved all the way to the grave - really hope the hospital hooks them all up with top-notch therapy after that shit.
The lack of transparency after the fact though is 100% inexcusable, but also unsurprising coming from a private hospital. Their decisions are driven by money and PR. Ethics are a tie breaker at best.
Most places recognize civil causes of action for negligent or intentional mishandling of a corpse, or interference with the disposition of a corpse. I think the result here does not necessarily impute medical negligence but it definitely warrants liability for their handling after the fact, as you’ve said. What a case. Wonder what the hospital will settle for.
I mean, if someone's going for a radical C-section definitely either mom, the baby, or both are about to die. But dude this is fucked up. I wouldn't give the benefit of the doubt here, personally. She should be sued and she should lose. But I suppose arguably it shouldn't define her career. She's been practicing for 20 years it looks like without any problems. Something went drastically wrong here but I agree with you that chaos is unfortunately part of medicine and definitely is in labor and delivery.
As for swaddling the severed head and body... I kind of also understand. Again, this is extraordinary. Everyone else in the room is as shocked as the rest of us are. What are they going to do, hold up the two halves and say "whoopsie doodle?"
As for denying an autopsy and trying to cover everything up, the hospital should be metaphorically burned to the ground. If the obstetrician was involved, that SHOULD define her career and it should be over.
the baby was reportedly tightly wrapped in a blanket with his head "propped on top of his body" to conceal the fact that he was decapitated
Jesus fucking christ. There's evil, there's comically evil, there's cartoonishly evil, and then there's this. What in the everloving fuck were they thinking? You always use gorilla glue when trying to cover up a baby decapitation!
No seriously, they’re surgeons, they have needles and thread RIGHT THERE. If they had any consideration at all for the parents they would have reattached the head before giving them the body. Sure they’d still have to know the truth but it would be a less painful memory they’ll carry forever. I had been giving the hospital the benefit of the doubt that maybe by pushing cremation they thought they were sparing the mother some of the horror so she could just grieve. After all, she’s their patient. And then I got to that part. Disgusting.
Shoulder dystocia is a condition that happens when one or both of your baby's shoulders get stuck during vaginal delivery. There are no signs and no way to prevent the condition. Causes may include having a large baby, having a small pelvis or being in the wrong position
The lawsuit claims that Dr. St. Julian did not tell Ross and her family about the decapitation when she spoke to them at approximately 5 a.m. July 10. The lawsuit also claims that the hospital discouraged Ross and the baby’s father, Treveon Taylor, from seeking an autopsy, saying a free autopsy was not an option for them under the circumstances. Instead, they reportedly encouraged the couple to have their son cremated instead of being sent to a funeral home.
Wow. Shit can happen in medicine but that coverup seems worse than the already terrible situation.
At approximately 8:40 p.m., Ross was fully dilated and instructed to begin pushing. The complaint says the baby stopped descending due to shoulder dystocia while being delivered vaginally and Dr. Tracey St. Julian, M.D., reportedly attempted to deliver the baby vaginally using different methods, including applying traction to the baby's head.
Dr. St. Julian reportedly decided to perform a STAT Cesarean section at approximately 11:49 p.m. The baby's body and legs were delivered at 12:11 a.m. and the baby's head was delivered vaginally.
😱
Traction = pulling on the head. Sounds like they pulled the baby's head off trying to get it unstuck, or it happened during the C-section. Either way, totally horrific. I wonder how common this sort of thing is?
When, Ross and Taylor demanded to see and hold their child, the baby was reportedly tightly wrapped in a blanket with his head "propped on top of his body" to conceal the fact that he was decapitated.
What in the actual fuck. There is something called "internal decapitation" where you rip the skull off the spine but the skin and muscles stay intact. You're still almost certainly dead, but I assumed that's what this was. It would take a lot of force but not as much as it would to rip the whole fucking thing off.
I have seen some shit, and this story is making me sick.
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