Warning: Some may find the details in this story graphic.
A lawsuit filed on Wednesday by a Georgia couple alleges medical professionals improperly delivered their baby leading to decapitation, and then attempted to cover it up.
“When the womb was open, the feet came out, the body came out, and there was no head,” Dr. Roderick Edmond, the couple’s attorney said.
According to the lawsuit, on July 9, Jessica Ross, 20, was at Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverdale, Georgia giving birth when her child shoulders got stuck in the vaginal canal.
Dr. Tracey St. Julian, M.D. attempted to use other methods to deliver the baby vaginally, but was unsuccessful.
Approximately three hours after Ross was instructed to begin pushing, Dr. St. Julian performed a cesarean section. The baby’s body and legs were delivered at 12:11 a.m., and the baby’s head was delivered vaginally.
The lawsuit alleges the doctor used “excessive tension” causing the baby’s head to decapitate.
“My clients asked for a C-section much sooner than it was ever delivered while the baby was viable,” Edmond said.
The couple reportedly didn’t learn about their child’s cause of death until four days later.
“They did everything in their power to not let the family know what actually happened on that day,” said Cory Lynch, who is also representing the couple.
Once the baby was delivered hospital staff reportedly did not let the couple hold their child. Instead they showed the parents their baby in a tightly wrapped blanket.
They also claimed staff discouraged them from seeking an autopsy and attempted to persuade them to cremate their child.
“This caused immediate, profound emotional and mental anguish for [the plaintiffs]… emotional and mental anguish that they continue to experience and most probably will experience for the rest of their lives,” the complaint says.
The couple is seeking compensatory and punitive damages as well as $10,000 for their son’s funeral and burial.
Police are now investigating.
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