A Missouri couple is suing their doctor after he decapitated their baby during birth, then tried to cover it up by shoving the baby back inside the mother's birth canal and performing an emergency c-section.
Arteisha Betts and Travis Ammonette, of Florissant, filed a 10-count complaint in St. Louis County Circuit Court last month against Dr. Gilbert Webb, Dr. Susan Moore, Midwest Maternal & Fetal Medicine Services and Signature Medical Group.
The couple claims they were told by Moore in February 2011 that the baby would have to be delivered by caesarian because his abdomen was too large for a normal birth, according to the New York Daily News.
Betts went into labor 28 weeks into what is normally a 40-week pregnancy.
When the couple arrived at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in March 2011, Dr. Webb refused to perform a C-section.
St. John's Mercy Medical Center
The complaint indicates Webb "would not agree" to the Cesarean and "would only agree to deliver her baby by way of attempted trial of vaginal delivery," according to Florissant.Patch.com.
"Believing that she had no other choice than to agree to a trial of vaginal delivery, plaintiff Arteisha Betts consented to a trial of vaginal delivery under duress and protest," according to the complaint.
During the procedure the baby's head delivered in the first stage, but in the second stage his body got stuck. Webb applied pressure trying to pull the baby out and "separated decedent Kaden Travis Ammonette's head from his cervical spine."
"Blood from the arteries and veins in decedent's neck shot out, splattered and/or spilled out into the labor and delivery room in plain view of Betts and Ammonette," according to the complaint.
In an attempt to cover up what he had done, Webb pushed the baby back inside Betts' birth canal and called for an emergency C-section. Webb was in such a hurry he started cutting Betts' stomach before the anesthesia had fully kicked in causing her great pain and suffering.
During the C-section Webb "surgically and completely removed" the baby's head from his neck and torso. Webb then tried to cover up the baby's wounds before handing him to his parents, but it's not clear in the complaint how he did this.
Betts got a tattoo of her sons hand prints honoring him.
The couple accuses the defendants of wrongful death and negligence and is seeking unspecified damages.
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