A woman in a nursing facility in Arizona delivered a baby on Dec. 29. She has been in a vegetative state for over 20 years and unable to get out of her bed. Officials are treating the incident as a sexual assault since there wasn’t a way that the woman could have consented to interaction with another person to get pregnant. The CEO of the nursing facility resigned from his position a few days after the investigation was launched. The woman’s family is seeking the assistance of an attorney.
The woman has been at Hacienda HealthCare since she was a toddler because she is a quadriplegic and has a disorder that causes seizures. The baby who was delivered in December appears to be healthy, but the woman’s family wants to know how she got pregnant. Nurses and other staff at the home didn’t notice a difference in her condition. She didn’t gain weight and seemed to be the same as she had been for the duration of her time in the facility, so they never thought that she was pregnant.
When nurses heard the woman moaning, they examined her and discovered that she was in labor. Several people were able to enter her room in the previous year, which makes it difficult to pinpoint who could have assaulted her and got her pregnant. There has been no way for her to tell anyone what happened or how her body was changing while she was pregnant. Other patients at the facility are being examined by state officials.
In the event that a family member is neglected while at an assisted living facility, the family may choose to pursue a claim against the facility with the assistance of an attorney. After examining the evidence presented about the neglect, the attorney might speak with the proper officials and file any necessary claims to seek compensation for any injuries or pain and suffering surrounding the neglect.