A Georgia doctor who was sued by a couple who accused him of posting their decapitated newborn baby on social media has been found liable in court.
Dr. Jackson Gates and his business, Medical Diagnostic Choices, were sued in civil court by Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor, Sr. in September.
They had hired him to perform an independent autopsy on their baby, who they called Baby Isaiah, who died as Ross was in delivery in July 2023, and he allegedly posted “graphic and grisly” videos of the autopsy on social media without the parents’ knowledge or consent.
On Thursday, a Fulton County judge granted a default judgement against Gates and his business because they failed to respond to the civil suit. They were found liable of intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and fraud.
However, the merits of the claims in the suit were not determined. A bench trial will determine the amount of damages owed to the parents.
NBC News has reached out to an attorney for the couple for comment.
Gates told NBC News Monday that what he did was not a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, commonly referred to as HIPAA, which protects sensitive patient health information from being disclosed.
“The HIPAA clause states that as a physician, I am within my capability of letting the public know when there’s a safety issue in healthcare, this baby was murdered,” he said, adding no one would have known about the case had he not spoken about it.
“I have not violated HIPAA, it is not required by a physician to get consent to report a crime or some sort of health issue to the public,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for 15 years, publishing my autopsy cases to explain to the public the victimization of those persons who have died.”
Ross and Taylor’s baby was dead at the time of his delivery on July 10, 2023, according to the complaint.
On July 12, Ross signed a contract with Gates to conduct an autopsy of Baby…
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