Woman In Coma For 14yrs Gives Birth To Baby Boy

Phoenix police are investigating possible sex abuse at a nursing facility after a female patient recently became pregnant and gave birth.

Sources tell Arizona's Family that the alleged victim has been a patient at the Hacienda HealthCare facility, which is near 16th Street and South Mountain Avenue, for at least a decade after a near-drowning incident left her in a vegetative state. That woman gave birth to a baby boy on Dec. 29.

“None of the staff were aware that she was pregnant until she was pretty much giving birth,” a source familiar with the situation said.

“How were they alerted to the fact that she was going into labor?” asked reporter Briana Whitney.

“From what I’ve been told she was moaning. And they didn’t know what was wrong with her,” the source said.

Arizona's Family also learned that the baby is alive.

“There was a nurse that was there, and from what I’ve heard she’s the one that delivered the baby,” the woman said.

“What do we know about the baby?” asked Whitney.

“From what I know the baby is alive, and the baby is healthy,” she said.

The source says the patient required around-the-clock care and many would have access to her room.

“She had no way to defend herself in this sort of situation?” asked Whitney.

“No. None whatsoever. Not even able to communicate the fact that she was pregnant,” she said.

The source said the facility has changed protocol this week.

“I was told that as of now, if a male staff needs to enter a female room, they need to bring in a female employee with them,” she said.

“And as far as you’re aware that is a new policy?” asked Whitney.

“Yes,” she said.

We talked to a Valley OB/GYN about the case.  

“I can’t even imagine how horrible it must be to be a victim of abuse like that" said Dr. Greg Marchand. “This was an extremely dangerous situation with no monitoring."

Marchand said even though a baby can fully develop inside a woman in a vegetative state, it’s alarming that she had no prenatal care.

He said the biggest difference between a woman giving birth in a vegetative state, versus a healthy woman, is that this victim could not help push the baby out, and it’s a miracle there were not severe complications.

“It could have been an active labor for hours or even days. This easily could have resulted in a fetal death,” he said. 

 Marchand said when though she could not communicate, she likely was able to feel pain during birth.

“There’s no doubt she was able to feel pain, but how much consciousness there was to really take the suffering from that is what I don’t know,” he said.

Investigators from multiple agencies are saying next to nothing about the case, but we know that at some point last spring or summer, someone sexually assaulted a woman who was in a persistent vegetative state, and she became pregnant.

It's not clear if the woman has family or a guardian to advocate for her. But two non profits came forward today volunteering to do it if there's not a thorough investigation.

Source: azfamily.com