An Atlanta doctor and his clinic have been found liable in a lawsuit filed by parents whose newborn baby was decapitated during a difficult delivery.
A default judgment was entered Wednesday against Dr. Jackson Gates and his business, Medical Diagnostic Choices, after they failed to respond to a civil complaint lodged in September by Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr., records show.
Ross and Taylor claimed Gates, who they hired to conduct a private autopsy in their baby’s death, posted graphic videos of their infant son’s postmortem examination on his Instagram account. The couple said in their Sept. 1 complaint that Gates wasn’t permitted to video the autopsy or publish the footage, and that they felt shock, anger, humiliation and outrage upon learning of the videos on social media.
Gates declined to comment on the case when contacted by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In a same-day televised interview, he said he posted images of the baby’s autopsy for educational purposes.
“I felt a need to expose this because I was shocked,” he told WSB-TV.
Gates also said he was trying to find a lawyer to represent him in the case. His Instagram account is now private.
A Fulton County judge ruled that Gates and his company are liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and fraud. The judge will decide at a later date how much money Gates and his business must pay Ross and Taylor in damages.
Since the default judgment, Gates has hired attorneys and asked the judge to vacate the ruling against him.
Cory Lynch, an attorney for Ross and Taylor, said they are relieved that they don’t have to take their case against Gates to trial and relive the trauma that his actions caused.
“They are happy with that result, however there’s still no true joy or celebration with this outcome,” Lynch told the AJC. “They were taken advantage of, not only by the hospital, but also violated again by Dr. Gates, and it’s been tough for them.”
The couple are separately suing Southern Regional Medical Center, Dr. Tracey St. Julian and others in relation to their son’s death at the Clayton County hospital in July 2023. They said St. Julian negligently applied excessive force on the baby’s head and neck during delivery, resulting in the baby’s decapitation, and that there were attempts to hide the details of the death.
Southern Regional has denied all wrongdoing and sought to dismiss that case, which is pending in Clayton County. St. Julian said in court filings that she met the relevant standard of care at all times when delivering the baby.
The Clayton County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death a homicide.
Ross and Taylor spoke publicly in February about their ordeal. They said they want justice for their son, whom they named Treveon Isaiah Taylor Jr.
Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
The baby suffered a sudden and rare birth complication known as shoulder dystocia — a life-threatening condition in which one or both shoulders become locked in the mother’s pelvis, records show.
The couple were not allowed to hold their child and were only allowed to view the baby through a glass window, their attorney, Roderick Edmond, said during a February press conference. He said the baby’s body was arranged by hospital staff to make it look like it wasn’t decapitated, and that Ross and Taylor were encouraged to have the baby cremated.
It wasn’t until several days later, through the funeral home handling the infant’s body, that the couple learned he had been decapitated.
In their case against Gates, Ross and Taylor said they paid him $2,500 for a postmortem examination of their son. The couple said Gates never sought permission to record the autopsy on video, and that no such permission was given.
Gates uploaded a video of the examination to his Instagram account on July 14, 2023, according to the lawsuit. Ross and Taylor said Gates subsequently removed that video, then posted two more videos of their son’s autopsy to Instagram on July 21, 2023.
“These videos show, in graphic and grisly detail, postmortem examinations of the head and body of Baby Isaiah,” the couple said in their complaint.
Ross and Taylor said their attorneys sent Gates a cease-and-desist letter on Aug. 10, 2023, directing him to immediately remove the videos from social media. Lynch said he believes the videos were ultimately removed. In their complaint, Ross and Taylor alleged that Gates had a history of publishing on Instagram photographs and videos of his postmortem examinations.
Case records show that Gates was served with the lawsuit on Sept. 21, 2023, at a residential address in Conyers. The woman who served Gates with the complaint said in an affidavit that Gates told her, “I’m going to put you on social media,” and recorded her with his phone.
Ross and Taylor sought a default judgment against Gates and his business in December, after the deadline to respond to their complaint under Georgia law had passed.
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