Nathan Sutherland, 36, the licensed practical nurse who was supposed to care for a 29-year-old woman in a vegetative state at a long-term Arizona nursing facility, has been arrested and charged with raping her. Staff at the Hacienda Healthcare facility in Phoenix, AZ only discovered she was pregnant after she went into labor last month. Paramedics were called to the facility moments after the delivery.
Sutherland, who had worked at the facility since 2011, will be charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of vulnerable adult abuse.
According to the chief, it was “good old-fashioned police work”1 and DNA tests on the baby that helped them find a match and make an arrest.
The woman has been incapacitated for 26 years and in Hacienda’s care since she was 3 years old. However, the family want it made clear that “The important thing is that she is a beloved daughter, albeit with significant intellectual disabilities. She has feelings, likes to be read to, enjoys soft music, and is capable of responding to people she is familiar with, especially family.”2 (Although she cannot speak she has some ability to move her limbs, head, and neck as well as respond to sound and make facial gestures.)
“The San Carlos Apache Tribe said in a statement earlier this month that the patient is an enrolled member of the tribe. Court records indicate that the woman’s mother lives on the reservation, roughly 120 miles from Phoenix, and has reportedly visited her daughter twice a month since becoming her legal guardian in 2009.
Police said Wednesday that the baby boy has been released from the hospital is being cared for by his maternal family.”3
Officials report that the baby is doing well.
Our hearts are with her family. We hope that someone in the community starts a GoFundMe or another campaign to help with costs associated with raising a baby. We will update this story should that happen.
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