Homicide, in the sense of “death caused by the actions of a third party”.
This is what an American forensic doctor has just concluded in the sad case of Treveon Taylor junior, this baby decapitated at birth a few months ago in a maternity ward in the state of Georgia.
The lawyers for the little boy's parents, Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor, made this terrible revelation Wednesday during a press conference.
The Clayton County Medical Examiner's Office, they say, determined that the immediate cause of the baby's death in the delivery room was a fracture-dislocation with complete severance of the upper cervical spine and spinal cord, and that human action was to blame.
Jessica Ross and Treveon Taylor were at Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverdale, south of Atlanta, Georgia, on July 9 for the delivery.
The baby's shoulders became stuck in the vaginal canal during the attempted vaginal delivery, a fetal emergency known as shoulder dystocia.
According to the American Library of Medicine, shoulder dystocia occurs in 0.5 to 1% of deliveries, but increases to 2.25% when the unborn baby weighs more than 4 kg.
Several maneuvers to rotate the child and the mother's pelvis are then possible.
According to court documents, Jessica Ross had been in the labor room for three hours, and she was notably accompanied by an obstetrician when she was transferred to the operating room to attempt a cesarean section.
She and her husband accuse the doctor of delaying the surgery.
She also allegedly applied excessive force to the baby's head and neck, leading to the infant's body being delivered by cesarean section, and his head vaginally.
Even though the couple knew their son did not survive, Dr. Roderick Edmond, one of the family's lawyers, who is a doctor, accuses the hospital's medical staff of hiding the situation from the parents.
The medical team reportedly tried to convince them to cremate the body quickly, then assured them that it was impossible to get a free autopsy countywide.
The Taylors allegedly saw their child through a window, swaddled in a blanket, in a position that made it impossible to see that the head was detached from the body.
“It’s evil in my mind,” Edmond said.
“That they tried to force her to cremate the baby to make the evidence disappear.
That they lied to them”… The parents reportedly did not learn of the situation until three days after the birth, when the funeral home in charge of the burial informed the county medical examiner's office.
“We just want justice for our son,” the young father implored Wednesday, his wife remaining silent or in tears at his side.
The hospital refused to answer questions from the press, arguing that a lawsuit was underway.
In August, after the parents filed the complaint, the Southern Regional Medical Center claimed that the baby had died
in utero
.
Lawyers for the accused doctor said in September that they rejected the conclusion that the baby's injury occurred before death.
“Although tragic, this rare finding has been reported in the medical literature and can occur in the absence of any wrongdoing on the part of the physician, which is the case here,” they wrote in court documents.
On Wednesday, Clayton County police said they were continuing their investigation.