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Doctor posted couple's decapitated baby online, suit says. GA jury awards $2.25M
A 12-person jury awarded $2.25 million to the parents of a newborn who was decapitated at birth, ruling against an Atlanta-area doctor they hired for an autopsy, according to their attorneys.
Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor paid Dr. Jackson Gates $2,500 for a postmortem exam of their son, 'Baby Isaiah,' after he died July 9, 2023, according to civil court filings previously reviewed by McClatchy News.
Nearly two months later, they sued Gates, saying he took videos of their newborn's body without permission and shared the graphic content online to his Instagram account.
The couple horrifically lost Baby Isaiah when the newborn was decapitated by another doctor at Southern Regional Medical Center in Clayton County, according to a separate lawsuit they filed against Ross' obstetrician. The doctor, Tracey St. Julian, was accused of applying too much force on the baby's head and neck during the delivery, resulting in decapitation.
Ross and Taylor were heartbroken, then were outraged upon learning Gates shared autopsy videos online of their baby, according to a complaint they filed in Fulton County Court.
The case went to trial this week, according to the couple's attorneys, Shofaetiyah Watson of The Edmond Firm and Cory J. Lynch of The Law Firm of Cory J. Lynch, LLC.
On the third day of trial, June 18, the jury awarded $2 million in compensatory damages to Ross and Taylor, as well as $250,000, the highest amount possible, in punitive damages, their legal counsel said in a news release.
'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,' Watson and Lynch said in a joint statement.
'This young couple trusted him with the remains of their precious baby,' they added. 'Gates, in turn, repaid this trust by posting horrific images of their child for the world to see.'
Gates did not immediately return McClatchy News' request for comment June 20. The pathologist and primary care doctor has a practice in Conyers, about a 25-mile drive southeast from Atlanta.
With their lawsuit, Taylor and Ross accused Gates of invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress and fraud, their attorneys said.
When they initially sued him, Gates defended himself in a video he shared to Instagram, saying anything he posted online was for educational purposes, WAGA-TV reported in September 2023.
Gates was accused of uploading footage of the baby's autopsy a second time, after taking the videos down in response to a cease-and-desist letter sent to him on the couple's behalf, according to their attorneys.
'Gates initially removed the videos but inexplicably reposted them, even after being informed of the parents' emotional pain resulting from the initial posts,' the release said.
Death ruled a homicide
In February 2024, the Clayton County Medical Examiner's Office announced the baby's death was ruled a homicide, McClatchy News reported.
At the time, the medical examiner's office's director, Brian Byars, told McClatchy News in a phone interview that the baby's head was 'completely separated from the body.'
During delivery, the newborn's head became stuck in the vaginal canal in a complicated medical event known as shoulder dystocia, according to Taylor and Ross' lawsuit against St. Julian and Southern Regional Medical Center.
That case is ongoing, their legal counsel said.
Southern Regional Medical Center denied the accusations involving the facility in a September 2023 statement previously shared with McClatchy News.
When the parents sued the hospital and St. Julian, the couple said both parties tried to hide the fact that their baby was decapitated, discouraged them from having an autopsy performed and encouraged them to cremate their son's body.
As for the case against Gates, the couple's attorneys said their 'goal was to ensure that Gates was held accountable for his unconscionable lack of empathy and invasion of our clients' privacy.'
'We thank the jury for helping us accomplish that objective,' they added.
