# How not to react after you pull off a baby's head **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 15, 2023, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607 "2023-08-15T14:44:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607/21 "2023-08-15T18:21:49Z")
Why did I click on that? Ooof! ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607/22 "2023-08-15T18:48:26Z")
i remember reading about this in large animal husbandry. thankfully did not witness one. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607/23 "2023-08-15T19:27:49Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > 99% pleasure, 1% panic and despair. My mother was an RN and tough as nails. No compassion no pity. She lasted in the NICU six weeks. ---
**Author:** ![superwombat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superwombat/32/16616_2.png) [@superwombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/superwombat)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607/24 "2023-08-15T19:40:35Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > She lasted in the NICU six weeks. NICU staff are all angels and saints. Cite: Myself and my younger boy, both preemies. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607/25 "2023-08-15T19:45:08Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Dead tissue is fragile Thank you for bringing some reality into this. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607/26 "2023-08-15T19:46:56Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Not long after that, I gave up OB. 99% pleasure, 1% panic and despair. My sister was a unit secretary in L&D for years, and that’s exactly how she described it. Mostly it was joyful and happy, but when it was bad, it was REALLY bad. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607/27 "2023-08-15T20:18:45Z")
> [@superwombat](#): > > NICU staff are all angels and saints. Yes, I used to work for March of Dimes and had more association with the NICU than I would have perhaps liked. Here in Albany Medical we have a Level 4 NICU so some of the sickest, tiniest babies. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607/28 "2023-08-15T21:05:41Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > She lasted in the NICU six weeks. There are several dark humor replies and I’m not making them. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607/29 "2023-08-15T21:05:47Z")
This is a very sad story whatever happened, but it’s hard to believe the hospital gave a dismembered body to the funeral home, and expected – what? They just wouldn’t say anything? All in a day’s work, nothing out of the ordinary? There has to be more to it – perhaps some initial collusion between hospital and funeral home to spare the parents that horror, but then somebody in the funeral home felt they had to come clean, is one guess. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607/30 "2023-08-15T21:26:02Z")
Speaking as the grandchild of undertakers/funeral home owners… Decapitated and dismembered bodies of all ages/stages of life do occur. It’s fortunately NOT common, and very sad and upsetting for all concerned. However, bodies are typically moved with paperwork and documentation. If the disassembly of the corpse occurred without a crime being committed the funeral home is still usually given a heads-up. Funeral homes also handle crime victims, in which they, again, usually have some notion that when they unzip the body bag things may not be standard. If such a body arrived _without_ normal documentation/communication I could certainly see questions being asked and alarms being raised. That does not automatically mean a homicide has occurred - it could be the paperwork got mislaid/lost or that something wasn’t communicated when it should have been. Headlines, especially these days, are meant to grab your attention, react emotionally, and click on that link to feed the advertisers. It’s always a good idea to take a deep breath and look a little deeper. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607/31 "2023-08-15T21:27:29Z")
One Internet is yours, good sir. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607/32 "2023-08-15T23:10:09Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > It’s always a good idea to take a deep breath and look a little deeper. Which parts do you allege are being misreported? Here it is from CBS News. [https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/news/atlanta-area-doctor-hospital-sued-after-baby-allegedly-decapitated-during-birth/](https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/news/atlanta-area-doctor-hospital-sued-after-baby-allegedly-decapitated-during-birth/) ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607/33 "2023-08-15T23:12:10Z")
The hospital is claiming the baby was already dead when this all happened but I don’t feel this passes the sniff test. Fetal monitoring is standard even in routine deliveries and a delivery where the head’s been stuck for hours in the birth canal would have a fetal monitor being watched closely to determine how much distress the baby was in. If the fetal monitor was flatlined they’d have prepared the mother ahead of time, I’m thinking. It’s also interesting that the hospital is briskly claiming the OB/GYN has never been part of the staff at the hospital. I think the part that really strikes me as unfair about it all is that not only did they decapitate the baby but the woman had a c-section after many hours of the head being stuck but they still couldn’t get the head back up into the uterus (that’s the common procedure during labor with a stuck baby, you basically shove it back up there then go in surgically) so the woman ended up with a c-section AND all the fun of a vaginal delivery since they delivered the head normally. Well, more or less normally if that word can possibly apply in this case. I think we can all agree that it’s tragically fucked up and they really shouldn’t have tried to act like the decapitation didn’t happen and shouldn’t have tried to cover up. Liability is one thing but absolute abject cruelty is something else. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607/34 "2023-08-15T23:39:25Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Which parts do you allege are being misreported? Not so much misreported as I’m thinking maybe we don’t have the whole story or all the facts - which may be even more damning than first appears, but the point is we don’t know all the details here. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2023, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607/35 "2023-08-16T00:57:09Z")
Its rare I wish I hadn’t read a thread… ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2023, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607/36 "2023-08-16T01:03:21Z")
Next time, I’ll give you a “head’s up." ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2023, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607/37 "2023-08-16T01:23:57Z")
😄 love you. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2023, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607/38 "2023-08-16T02:30:48Z")
I collect old medical books, and they’re chock-full of pictures of things that doctors, at least in the developed world, would NEVER encounter in practice. Without being too graphic, this is one of them. Back when I was doing rotations, I met a nurse on the adult med/surg unit who said that when she was doing her OB rotation, her non-nursing friends all said, “That must be really fun!” She said that she was never pooped on, peed on, or barfed on quite as much as she was in that newborn nursery, and that every boy must have had some kind of secret code that said, “Hey, you! That nurse over there doesn’t like babies very much. FWEEEEEEEE!” (No, she didn’t have children of her own.) This thread really belongs in the Pit, and there is nothing funny about the story. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2023, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607/39 "2023-08-16T03:16:43Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > If the disassembly of the corpse occurred without a crime being committed the funeral home is still usually given a heads-up. _Phrasing!_ Are we still doing that? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2023, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607/40 "2023-08-16T04:56:25Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > If the fetal monitor was flatlined they’d have prepared the mother ahead of time, I’m thinking. Who says they didn’t? The reporting is oddly unspecific on details such as this. As are the lawyer’s statements. If it were a live birth, one would think they’d emphasize more that the doctors killed the baby. Instead, the complaint seems more about that they were deceived about the decapitation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-react-after-you-pull-off-a-babys-head/988607.md?page=3)