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Last month a woman at a Phoenix health care facility who is in a vegetative state gave birth after being sexually assaulted.
All of the caregivers at the facility claimed they did not notice the patient’s growth until the very end of her pregnancy. Keep in mind the patient has been living at there since 2002.
A weeklong investigation took place at the Hacienda HealthCare before authorities arrested 36 year-old nurse Nathan Sutherland.
The 29 year-old victim’s family is aware that Sutherland was arrested however they denied to comment on the situation.
Stay tuned as the story develops…
Sutherland will be ordered to take a DNA test to confirm whether or not he is the father of the newborn baby.
Take a look at his mug shot below:
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Via abcnews.com: Police in Arizona have made an arrest in connection with a woman who gave birth while in a vegetative state. The 36-year-old suspect, Nathan Sutherland, was arrested after investigators obtained a DNA sample Tuesday, according to the Phoenix Police Department. Police said that they had determined that his DNA matched the baby’s DNA and he was booked into the Maricopa County Jail without bond on Tuesday after being charged with one count of vulnerable adult abuse and one count of sexual assault. Authorities said he was responsible for caring for the woman at the time of the alleged abuse that appears to have resulted in the pregnancy, a spokeswoman for the Phoenix Police Department announced in a press conference Wednesday. Sutherland had been a licensed practical nurse at Hacienda Healthcare in Phoenix since 2011, police said. It is unclear when he stopped working at the facility. He was identified as a person who had access to the victim in the case, and investigators obtained a DNA sample from him yesterday using a court order, police said. Sutherland was not working at the center at the time police retrieved the evidence. In a statement released through their attorney on Tuesday, the family said they “would like to make clear that their daughter is not in a coma.” “She has significant intellectual disabilities as a result of seizures very early in her childhood,” the statement read. “She does not speak but has some ability to move her limbs, head and neck. Their daughter responds to sound and is able to make facial gestures. The important thing is that she is a beloved daughter, albeit with significant intellectual disabilities. She has feelings, likes to be read to, enjoys soft music, and is capable of responding to people she is familiar with, especially family.” The difference between being in a coma and being in a vegetative state is that a patient in a coma is completely unresponsive, does not react to light or sound, cannot feel pain and whose eyes remain closed. Comas normally last for a finite period of time – days, weeks or even months, according to the non-profit American Hospice Foundation.
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