The jury grants $ 2.25 million to Georgia parents in the event of a decapitated baby autopsy shared on social networks

A jury in the county of Fulton, in Georgia, granted $ 2.25 million in damages to the parents of a baby who was beheaded during delivery And whose autopsy was published on social networks without the consent of his parents.

Parents, Treveon Taylor and Jessica Ross, will receive $ 2 million in compensatory damages and an additional $ 250,000 in punitive damages against the pathologist who published the video, Dr. Jackson Gates and the choices of medical diagnosis in Atlanta. Parents continued its doors in September 2023 For an alleged invasion of privacy, fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

“Although we are happy that a jury punished Dr. Jackson Gates for his reprehensible behavior, nothing can alleviate the pain that parents, Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor, Sr., experienced in the loss of their little boy in such a horrible way,” said family lawyers in a statement on Wednesday.

Gates did not immediately respond to a request for comments from NBC news.

The baby was died at the time of childbirth on July 10, 2023, said the trial. On July 12, Ross contracted doors to make an autopsy for $ 2,500.

Ross and Taylor did not allow the doors to share images of the autopsy, through the contract or verbally, depending on the trial.

Gates downloaded several videos to his Instagram account this month showing “in a graphic and macabre detail a post-mortem examination of the beheaded and cut of the baby Isaiah”, as well as the baby’s body, said the prosecution. At the time, Gates’ social media account showed a story of publication of photos and videos from other autopsies. This account was removed, but it has at least another account on YouTube.

“After the beheading of their baby, Gates poured salt into the couple’s already deep wounds when they betrayed them,” said family lawyers.

Doors told NBC News In March 2024, after being initially judged responsible in the case, that he had not violated the law on health insurance and responsibility (HIPAA) due to a clause that allows doctors to inform the public when there are safety problems in health care.

“I have not raped the HIPAA, it is not held a doctor to obtain his consent to report a crime or a kind of health problem to the public,” Gates said at the time. “I have been doing this for 15 years, by publishing my autopsy cases to explain to the public the victimization of deceased people.”

Parents sent a letter of transfer and desire in August 2023 so that their child’s videos are immediately deleted; They filed a complaint against Gates the following month.

Ross and Taylor also continued the installation where delivery took place, the South Regional Medical Center and Obstetrician Dr. Tracey St. Julian – who is a member of a private cabinet and not from the hospital – for a “ridiculously excessive force” used during the delivery of their son.

The baby did not go down properly during work, probably due to shoulder dystociaA condition that occurs when a baby’s shoulder is taken behind the mother’s pubic bone, according to the trial against medical providers. St. Julian tried to deliver the baby vaginal by using different methods, including excessive traction, which leads to beheading, bone fractures of the skull and face and other injuries, indicates the costume.