911 tape: Panic as comatose woman gave birth
PHOENIX — Panicking staff members at a long-term care facility scrambled to save a baby born to an Arizona woman in a vegetative state amid their shock to learn she was pregnant, according to dramatic 911 audio released Friday.
The five minutes of audio from the Dec. 29 birth starts with a frantic nurse at the Phoenix facility yelling, “The baby’s turning blue! The baby’s turning blue!”
“One of our patients just had a baby, and we had no idea she was pregnant,” the nurse said.
She then says the mother appeared stable but care workers were administering CPR to the infant, who was unresponsive. When the dispatcher asked how far along the mother was in her pregnancy, the nurse repeated that it was a shock to everyone.
“This is a complete surprise. We were not expecting this,” she said.
Within a few minutes, the nurse expressed relief, saying, “thank God” the baby was crying.
Since that day, the woman and the baby boy have been recovering at a hospital. Their conditions have not been released.
The 29-year-old woman, incapacitated since age 3, was sexually assaulted, police say, and they are trying to track down the assailant. Investigators collected DNA from the facility’s male employees and anyone else who may have had contact with her.
The revelation that an incapacitated woman was raped inside a care facility has horrified advocates for people with disabilities and the community at large.
The CEO of Hacienda HealthCare resigned last week as the provider announced new safety measures, including more than one staff member being present during patient interactions and more scrutiny of visitors.
The facility specializes in providing around-the-clock care for infants, children and young adults with developmental disabilities or who are “medically fragile.”
The notion that none of the woman’s caregivers knew she was pregnant has drawn skepticism. But medical experts say it’s possible she displayed no outward signs that workers would have noticed, especially by staffers who don’t work with pregnant patients.