CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A Fulton County court has ordered Dr. Jackson Gates to pay over $2 million to the family of a decapitated baby after he posted images of the child on social media.
The court’s decision comes after Jessica Ross and Traveon Taylor, the parents of the child, hired Gates for an independent autopsy following a tragic incident at the Southern Regional Medical Center.
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According to a separate lawsuit, after 10 hours of labor, doctors allegedly decapitated the baby and attempted to cover it up.
That was the reason the family paid dr Gates for an independent autopsy in the first place.
“They felt betrayed, and when they asked about it, they lied to,” said Cory Lynch, the family’s attorney.
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“Who in the hell on this planet will think it’s OK to post videos of the decapitated baby without asking permission from the parent,” Roderick Edmond, another family attorney, said.
Gates told Channel 2 Action News last year that he posted the images for educational purposes and was not trying to hurt the family.
“I believe that Dr. Gates believed he was helping. He believed he was helping the plaintiffs uncover what the hospital actually had done,” Gates’s attorney, Ira Livnat, stated, “He’s absolutely heartbroken for what happened to this family. And what he said at trial was, is that if he had known that it would have harmed them, he would have never done it.”
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His attorney claimed that Gates regularly posted autopsy results on social media.
The court’s ruling included compensation for emotional distress, invasion of privacy, and fraud.
The family is also pursuing legal action against the hospital, doctors, and OB-GYN involved, although a trial date for that case has not yet been set.
Attorneys for the family issued a statement saying they are pleased with the outcome after Gates “poured salt into the couple’s already deep wounds.”
“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.
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.
We believe that the jury sent a powerful message that doctors must always consider the feelings of their patients and in this case their clients. Always move with empathy.
Our 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."
— Attorneys for the family
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