Woman In Vegetative State Gives Birth At Hacienda Healthcare In Phoenix; Sex Abuse Investigation

Leeda.the.Paladin

Well-Known Member
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- Phoenix police are investigating possible sex abuse at a nursing facility after a female patient recently became pregnant and gave birth.

Sources tell Arizona's Family that the alleged victim has been a patient at the Hacienda HealthCare facility, which is near 16th Street and South Mountain Avenue, for at least a decade after a near-drowning incident left her in a vegetative state. That woman gave birth to a baby boy on Dec. 29.

“None of the staff were aware that she was pregnant until she was pretty much giving birth,” a source familiar with the situation said.

How were they alerted to the fact that she was going into labor?” asked reporter Briana Whitney.

“From what I’ve been told she was moaning. And they didn’t know what was wrong with her,” the source said.

Arizona's Family also learned that the baby is alive.

“There was a nurse that was there, and from what I’ve heard she’s the one that delivered the baby,” the woman said.

“What do we know about the baby?” asked Whitney.

“From what I know the baby is alive, and the baby is healthy,” she said.

The source says the patient required around the clock care and many would have access to her room.

“She had no way to defend herself in this sort of situation?” asked Whitney.

“No. None whatsoever. Not even able to communicate the fact that she was pregnant,” she said.

The source said the facility has changed protocol this week.

“I was told that as of now, if a male staff needs to enter a female room, they need to bring in a female employee with them,” she said.

“And as far as you’re aware that is a new policy?” asked Whitney.

“Yes,” she said.

Investigators from multiple agencies are saying next to nothing about the case, but we know that at some point last spring or summer, someone sexually assaulted a woman who was in a persistent vegetative state, and she became pregnant.

Hacienda HealthCare spokeswoman Nancy Salmon released the following statement after Arizona's Family asked about the case
 

SexySin985

Well-Known Member
What kind of facility is this where the entire staff had no idea that this woman was pregnant for 9 whole months?:confused: Does she not get regular exams, checkups, etc? Nobody noticed or was concerned with her growing belly? OMG the lawsuit that would be filed if this were my family member would be of EPIC proportion!!
 

Shula

Well-Known Member
Male caregivers shouldn't be alone with female patients. Treat it like they do at OB GYNs and dental offices.

I told y'all about my daughter having a hospital stay and the 90+ year older black roommate she had. Imagine my shock and awe when every time her diaper was changed, it was 2-3 young white males. I always stay with my kid the entire stay and she usually has a private room but seeing that, there's no way I'd allow them to care for her intimately that way. I got it, chief. Crazy part was that there were plenty of female nurses around.

I feel terrible for this patient and family. I wonder what they will do with the baby? Imagine visiting and noticing a bump or not noticing and being handed a baby?!! Brimstone everywhere.
 
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HappilyLiberal

Well-Known Member
I was surprised to learn that this (male doctor has to have female nurse in room) is not a requirement in every state.

I think it depends on hospital policy. When my mom went in for a check up with her oncologist (not cancer--thankfully) his female nurse stayed in the room the first time (they were at the hospital). The second and third times she went to his office and he saw her alone (though I was in the room both times).

When I see my oncologist (different hospital) there has never been a nurse in there (though one time he was training a female resident and she was in there) (while I was being treated for cancer my mom was always there, but now when I go in for check-ups every three months I usually go alone and--no nurse). We usually spend our time laughing at his inability to keep a nurse. This is also the case with my surgeon though he always has many more residents so someone is always in and out during my exams, but I have seen him a couple of times with no one in the room.
 

meka72

Well-Known Member
I think it depends on hospital policy. When my mom went in for a check up with her oncologist (not cancer--thankfully) his female nurse stayed in the room the first time (they were at the hospital). The second and third times she went to his office and he saw her alone (though I was in the room both times).

When I see my oncologist (different hospital) there has never been a nurse in there (though one time he was training a female resident and she was in there) (while I was being treated for cancer my mom was always there, but now when I go in for check-ups every three months I usually go alone and--no nurse). We usually spend our time laughing at his inability to keep a nurse. This is also the case with my surgeon though he always has many more residents so someone is always in and out during my exams, but I have seen him a couple of times with no one in the room.
Perhaps. I could see it not being a requirement but policy.

I’ve lived in three different states and my home state required a nurse anytime a male doctor was in with a female patient in office and hospital settings. (Became law after it was discovered that some doctors were preying on female patients.) My current state does not.

Wishing you and your mother good health!
 

Lita

Well-Known Member
What kind of facility is this where the entire staff had no idea that this woman was pregnant for 9 whole months?:confused: Does she not get regular exams, checkups, etc? Nobody noticed or was concerned with her growing belly? OMG the lawsuit that would be filed if this were my family member would be of EPIC proportion!!

@SexySin985 Clearly this woman wasn’t given proper care at all..That is unfortunate & disturbing at the same time..
 

felic1

Well-Known Member
Perhaps. I could see it not being a requirement but policy.

I’ve lived in three different states and my home state required a nurse anytime a male doctor was in with a female patient in office and hospital settings. (Became law after it was discovered that some doctors were preying on female patients.) My current state does not.

Wishing you and your mother good health!
@meka72 Do you remember the recent case where Dr. Nasser molested the Olympic athletes in that Michigan State scandal? When Michigan State ruled that their parents could be chaperones in the future it indicates that they don't realize that the examination could be wrong in front of them. They did not want to pay a nurse who could report child abuse as a mandatory reporter. Our obstetrical service always had to have a female chaperone for a male physician. Vulnerable people really need protection.:crybaby:
 

Leeda.the.Paladin

Well-Known Member
Police Seek Male Staffers' DNA At Center Where Patient In Vegetative State Gave Birth
January 8, 20196:32 PM ET
IAN STEWART


MATTHEW S. SCHWARTZ


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Updated at Jan. 9 at 3:13 p.m. ET

Phoenix police are collecting DNA evidence from all male employees of Hacienda HealthCare, where a patient in a vegetative state gave birth to a child Dec. 29.

Police served the long-term care facility with a search warrant on Tuesday, The Associated Press reported. "We will continue to cooperate with Phoenix Police and all other investigative agencies to uncover the facts in this deeply disturbing, but unprecedented situation," Hacienda Healthcare said in a statement.

The care facility had considered conducting its own DNA tests, but its attorneys advised that genetic testing of its employees would violate federal law, the company said, according to The Arizona Republic.

"The family obviously is outraged, traumatized and in shock by the abuse and neglect of their daughter at Hacienda Healthcare," said John Micheaels, who represents the family of the woman, according to the New York Times. "The family would like me to convey that the baby boy has been born into a loving family and will be well cared for."

statement obtained by local TV station 12News.

On Monday, Hacienda's longtime CEO, Bill Timmons, resigned as police continue to investigate how a woman who wasn't able to consent to sex was impregnated.

The woman had been a patient at the Phoenix facility for years after almost drowning, according to azfamily.com, which broke the story; police declined to provide NPR with details about their investigation. Staff members reportedly hadn't noticed the patient was pregnant until she went into labor.

"I can't believe someone would bathe her daily for nine months, never know she wasn't having her period, she wasn't growing in her mid-section," one of the woman's former caregivers told ABC15, which did not reveal his or her identity.

The caregiver said the woman was completely unable to communicate and was only visited by family members every few months.

Calling her case an "absolutely horrifying situation," Hacienda HealthCare board member Gary Orman said in a statement that the "unprecedented case ... has devastated everyone involved, from the victim and her family to Hacienda staff at every level of our organization."


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The company, which says it is cooperating with police, provides services ranging from day programs to long-term residential care for more than 2,500 patients annually.

In 2013, Timmons received a warning from the Arizona Department of Health Services after an investigation revealed that a staff member — who was later fired — had made sexual comments about a patient that weren't appropriately reported. According to agency documents, Hacienda HealthCare later corrected facility "deficiencies" that contributed to the incident.

"Our nation is very much in denial about how widespread the problem of sexual abuse is — especially when you have a population that does not fit the mainstream criteria as a sexual being," Kristen Houser, spokesperson for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, told Vox. Last year, NPR reported that Americans with intellectual disability are sexually assaulted at a rate seven times higher than those without disabilities.


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State officials say they have acted to protect other patients following the pregnancy. The Department of Health Services says that its own investigation is continuing and that it "has required heightened safety measures be implemented at the facility including increased staff presence during patient interactions, increased monitoring of the patient care areas, and increased security measures with respect to visitors at the facility."

The Arizona Department of Economic Security says in an emailed statement that it had sent a team to check on the health and safety of every person in the facility since the pregnancy and birth were reported and that it was working with Phoenix police on their investigation.

Neither state officials nor a company spokesperson answered questions from NPR about the current location of the mother or her newborn son.
 

Sarabellam

Well-Known Member
Soooooo was she menstruating before? Did they not notice that she stopped?

Most nurses aren’t checking to do more work. That plus with shift work it is not a guarantee that the patient will have a nurse frequently enough over a long period of time to notice a trend.

Edit after reading the article: This facility probably wasn’t bathing her daily either.
 

brg240

Well-Known Member
I was reading that her old nurse doesn't know how this could happen. She apperently left for a better job and I guess whoever took over didn't do their job at all :(

Also I read this lady was native American and while I 100% believe this could happen to any race of woman I wonder if this played into the lack of care
 
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