Left: Dr. Jackson Gates (YouTube/The Institute of Pathology and Laboratory Medical Science). Right: Jessica Ross, left, in brown and white sweater, and Traveon Taylor, right, in blue shirt, at a press conference (YouTube/WXIA).
The Georgia parents whose child died by decapitation during birth have won a multimillion dollar civil award against a doctor who posted the infant”s autopsy online.
As Law&Crime has previously reported, Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr. on July 19, 2023, suffered the loss of their child while at Southern Regional Medical Center in Atlanta in July 2023. As Ross struggled through labor, the baby’s shoulders reportedly got stuck against her pelvic bone, and the medical team’s efforts to extract the baby allegedly resulted in decapitation.
Ross and Taylor hired Dr. Jackson Gates to conduct an autopsy, which Gates did — and then posted the procedure, which he recorded, to Instagram. The parents, who say they did not give permission for Gates to share their child’s autopsy on social media, filed a lawsuit, alleging invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and fraud.
Fulton County court records show that following a trial, a jury determined that Gates owes millions to Ross and Taylor.
“We the Jury find that, for Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, Invasion of Privacy Through Intrusion into Private Affairs, and Fraud[,] Defendants Jackson L. Gates M.D. and Gates Rapid Diagnostic Laboratory of Atlanta, d/b/a Medical Diagnostic Choices will pay $2,000,000 in compensatory damages to Jessica Ross and Traveon Isaiah Taylor, Sr.,” a verdict form issued Wednesday said.
The jury awarded an additional $250,000 in punitive damages, records show — the maximum amount allowed, the family’s lawyers noted.
“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,” attorneys for the couple said in a statement, according to local NBC affiliate WXIA. “After the decapitation of their baby, Gates poured salt into the couple’s already deep wounds when he betrayed them. This young couple trusted him with the remains of their precious baby. Gates, in turn, repaid this trust by posting horrific images of their child for the world to see.”
The grieving parents won a default judgment against the doctor in March of 2024.
The child’s death was determined to be a homicide. Ross and Taylor have a separate lawsuit pending against Prime Healthcare Services, which operates the hospital where they had gone to give birth, and the delivery doctor and nurses. The couple alleges that the doctor applied “ridiculously excessive force” on the baby’s head and neck before calling for an emergency C-section, and that the medical team kept the manner of the baby’s death from the family for several days.
Law&Crime’s Alberto Luperon contributed to this report.
