Abstract
A full‐term infant suffered a high cervical cord transection after a Kielland's forceps rotation and extraction. Quadriplegia developed immediately and initial cerebral swelling was followed by atrophy with ventricular dilatation on CT examination. Death occurred at 60 days. At post‐mortem complete necrosis of the cervical cord at C2–C3 with old haemorrhage in the meninges was found, with damage to the inferior corpora quadrigemina, the thalamus, striatum, cerebellar and cerebral cortex. The mechanism is discussed briefly.