UPDATED: 2019/01/23 12:30PM
36-year-old Nathan Sutherland has been arrested on suspicion of impregnating a woman under his care who was in a vegetative state. According to the Phoenix, Arizona Police Chief, the woman gave birth last month at Hacienda HealthCare facility in Phoenix.
The woman, who is 29 years old, is a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe and had been in her vegetative state at the center since 1992. Caretakers were shocked when the woman gave birth on December 29th, 2018 and had no idea that she was pregnant. The baby, according to reports, is doing well.
Sutherland’s DNA was a match against the baby’s DNA after crime lab technicians tested it on Tuesday, January 22nd. The Phoenix Police Department had been carrying out a sexual assault investigation and had gathered DNA from the men who work at the facility when they found Sutherland’s was a match.
A former prosecutor is reviewing what happened at the center and the company is turning over all records of the woman’s care and treatment. The center has also been ordered to hire a third-party manager to oversee the functions of several of its facilities.
Sutherland, who was a licensed practical nurse at the facility, has been arrested and is being booked on preliminary charges of sexual assault and vulnerable-adult abuse.