The parents of a baby whose head was decapitated during its delivery were awarded more than $2 million by a jury after a metro Atlanta doctor posted autopsy videos on social media that included graphic images of the infant’s head.
Last year, a judge ruled that Dr. Jackson Gates and his office, Gates Rapid Diagnostic Laboratory, were liable after he was sued by Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr. for posting the post-mortem examination of their baby on Instagram in July 2023.
According to the parents’ lawsuit, Ross and Treveon hired Gates to perform a private autopsy that summer, a few weeks after Ross went into labor and suffered complications during her delivery.
Ross spent hours attempting a natural birth, but the baby stopped progressing through the birth canal due to a rare condition called shoulder dystocia.
Doctors at Southern Regional Medical Center made several failed attempts to deliver the infant safely until finally performing a STAT cesarean section. The baby’s body and legs were delivered in the cesarean procedure, but the head was delivered vaginally.
After Gates was paid $2,500 to perform a post-mortem examination, he posted “grisly and graphic” videos of the child’s severed head without receiving proper authorization from the parents, the suit states.
The couple’s attorney alleged Gates posted the clips “for likes and follows.” In the months after posting the videos, his follower count on Instagram increased from roughly 8,300 followers to 11,000.
The pathologist defended his actions, telling Atlanta News First, “I only showed a picture of the baby’s face and addressed the issue. I did not divulge any information of the baby’s identity or divulge anything about the family.”
Gates was found liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and fraud. A Fulton County jury recently awarded Ross and Taylor $2.25 million in damages.
The attorneys representing the couple released a statement saying they are pleased with the jury’s decision.
“While we are pleased that a jury punished Dr. Jackson Gates for his reprehensible behavior, nothing can ease the pain that the parents, Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor, Sr., have experienced in losing their baby boy in such a horrific way,” the statement read. “We believe that the jury sent a powerful message that doctors must always consider the feelings of their patients and, in this case, their clients,” the statement read, per WAGA.
State medical board records show that Gates’ license as a physician is still active.
Ross and Taylor also sued Southern Medical Regional Center and the doctors involved in her delivery, alleging they were too forceful and pulled the baby’s head so hard that the traction broke bones in the baby’s head, face, and neck.
They also accused hospital staffers of not allowing them to hold the baby after the delivery and purposely withholding details of the baby’s decapitation.
“When Ms. Ross and Mr. Taylor demanded to see and hold their baby, hospital staff told them that they were not allowed to touch or hold their child,” the couple’s attorneys said in a statement. “Hospital staff allowed the young couple to only view their dead child. During this viewing, their baby was wrapped tightly in a blanket with his head propped on top of his body in a manner such that those viewing him could not identify that he had been decapitated.”
The suit against the hospital is still pending.
