Ariz. nursing center where woman was raped will close

PHOENIX — The care facility in Arizona where an incapacitated woman was raped and later gave birth will soon be closed, the nursing home’s operator has announced.

In a statement last week, the operator, Hacienda HealthCare, said it was working to determine exactly how it would move its patients from the Phoenix facility elsewhere and did not specify a location. It pledged to do “everything in our power” to ensure that the transition would be smooth.

A spokesman for the company said 37 patients would be affected.

“The Hacienda Healthcare board of directors, after a great deal of careful consideration, has come to understand that it is simply not sustainable to continue to operate our Intermediate Care Facility for the Intellectually Disabled,” the company’s Thursday statement said, adding that the board had voted on Feb. 1 to close the nursing center.

State agencies were notified of the board vote the same day.

Some state officials, though, reacted with surprise. They said that when they met with Hacienda officials earlier last week, the company acknowledged the board’s vote, but did not provide notice to terminate its contract or provide a transition plan as required by its contract with the state. As recently as Thursday, state officials added, discussions about how to maintain patient care at the center were continuing.

“We find this announcement very concerning,” said Patrick Ptak, a spokesman for Gov. Douglas Ducey. “State agencies have been actively working to increase oversight at this facility to ensure patients are safe and well cared for. For some patients at the facility, this is the only home they know or remember. Forcing this medically fragile community to move should be a last resort. Everyone’s first priority should be protecting their health and safety.”

The announcement came about two weeks after a former nurse there, Nathan Sutherland, was charged with having sexually assaulted the woman. Mr. Sutherland, 36, pleaded not guilty last Tuesday to that charge and to a count of child abuse.

Over the past several weeks, the case has rattled Arizona, raising concerns about the way patients in long-term disability care are treated and placing Hacienda HealthCare under intense scrutiny.

The criminal case started to unfold in late December, when a woman at Hacienda who cannot talk or walk unexpectedly gave birth to a boy. (The baby is said to be doing well and is in the custody of the woman’s family.)

Over the weeks that followed, the investigation became the main focus of the Phoenix Police Department, its chief said, and led to questions about the company’s operations and conduct. A DNA sample taken from Mr. Sutherland, who was assigned to treat the woman, was eventually found to match that of the newborn, the police said.