given birth – sparking a police probe into a possible s*xual assault.
Police in Phoenix, Arizona, United States are investigating how the
woman in coma for so many years gave birth at Hacienda Healthcare, a
nursing facility.
A local CBS News affiliate,
Arizona’s Family, first reported the incident on Thursday. According to
their report, the victim, who remains unidentified, gave birth to a
healthy baby boy on December 29.
A whistleblower, who remains anonymous, told the CBS News affiliate that none of the staff knew she was pregnant.
“None
of the staff were aware that she was pregnant until she was pretty much
giving birth,” she said in a TV segment that disguised her voice and
hid her face.
“From what I’ve been told she was moaning. And they didn’t know what was wrong with her.”
In a statement, Hacienda HealthCare said it would also conduct an “internal review” to evaluate patient safety.
“As
an organization, Hacienda HealthCare stands fully committed to getting
to the truth of what, for us, represents an unprecedented matter,”
spokeswoman Nancy Salmon told Arizona’s Family.
“We are 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. Anything less than that is unacceptable to
our team, our company’s leaders and the communities we serve.”
The
victim has reportedly been a patient at Hacienda HealthCare facility in
Phoenix for at least a decade after nearly drowning and falling into a
coma.
Male staff are no longer allowed in the rooms of female patients at the facility as the investigation is underway.
The Arizona Department of Health Services said in a statement that it is also helping with the investigation.
