Investigation after patient in vegetative state gives birth

A near-drowning had left the woman in a persistent vegetative state for nearly a decade. Awake but immobile, and apparently unaware, her universe consisted mostly of a room at a Phoenix Hacienda HealthCare facility where she received roundthe-clock care.

And so a few days after Christmas, her caretakers were flummoxed when she went into labour. “None of the staff were aware that she was pregnant until she was pretty much giving birth,” a source told Phoenix CBS affiliate KPHO.

The patient gave birth to a healthy baby boy, KPHO reported.

The reported birth — and the sexual assault on a vulnerable individual that must have preceded it — has cast a harsh glare on conditions at a nonprofit organisation that bills itself as a leading provider of health care for Phoenix’s medically fragile.

A Phoenix police spokesman said that the department is investigating but did not release details about the case. Hacienda HealthCare has 40 programmes that serve more than 2500 people a year in Arizona, according to its website.

The organisation has vowed to determine what happened.

A statement said Hacienda is “already conducting a comprehensive internal review of our processes, protocols, and people to ensure that every single Hacienda resident is as safe and well cared for as possible.”

No one has been arrested. In Arizona, sexually assaulting a vulnerable adult is a criminal offence.

The state department of economic security dispatched a team to conduct health and safety checks at the facility, and the department of health services has beefed up safety measures: more staff, increased monitoring and stronger security.