The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel Get email updates with the day's biggest stories Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice A male nurse has been arrested on suspicion of rape after a woman who has been in a coma for 14 years gave birth last month. Phoenix Police announced that Nathan Sutherland, 36, who was employed at the Hacienda HealthCare centre in Phoenix, Arizona, was arrested today after his DNA "matched the baby". Chief Jeri Williams said the hospital worker was responsible for caring for the patient during the time she was sexually assaulted. The 29-year-old mother was a patient at the 60-bed care facility and has been in a vegetative state for more than a decade after nearly drowning. (Image: MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE) Sutherland has been booked into Marciopa Jail on one charge of sexual assault and one charge of abusing a vulnerable adult. Chief Williams said: “The investigation was, and still is, the highest priority of our police department." Speaking at a press conference, Sgt. Tommy Thompson said: "We may not know how many times this occurred. “We cant always choose the way we come into this life, but this community can choose to love this baby. I’m told the baby is fine.” Police said Sutherland was a licensed practical nurse and had worked at the facility since 2011. He did not give an interview when arrested. Police said the baby was near or at full term and is doing "quite well" and is believed to have been released from hospital. An investigation was launched after the woman unexpectedly went into labour last month. In a bid to identify the child's father, search warrants were issued to obtain DNA samples from men working at the Hacienda HealthCare centre. earlier this month. Police said Nathan Sutherland was arrested on the basis of DNA evidence. Sgt Tommy Thompson previously told reporters: "As a police officer for 35 years, this is a case that even shocks my conscience, to think that something like this could occur." He added: "She was not in a position to give consent to any of this. This was a helpless victim who was sexually assaulted." The woman is a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe and a solicitor representing her family said the baby "has been born into a loving family and will be well cared for". While police said the woman is in a vegetative state, John Micheaels, the family’s lawyer, said she is not able to speak but can respond to sound, make facial gestures and has some ability to move her limbs, head and neck. Two doctors who were also involved in the woman's care have since left the facility. The CEO of Hacienda HealthCare Bill Timmons resigned shortly after the investigation began.<doc-sep>Police in Arizona have made an arrest in connection with a woman who gave birth while in a vegetative state. The 36-year-old suspect, Nathan Sutherland, was arrested after investigators obtained a DNA sample Tuesday, according to the Phoenix Police Department. Police said that they had determined that his DNA matched the baby’s DNA and he was booked into the Maricopa County Jail without bond on Tuesday after being charged with one count of vulnerable adult abuse and one count of sexual assault. Authorities said he was responsible for caring for the woman at the time of the alleged abuse that appears to have resulted in the pregnancy, a spokeswoman for the Phoenix Police Department announced in a press conference Wednesday. Sutherland had been a licensed practical nurse at Hacienda Healthcare in Phoenix since 2011, police said. He was identified as a person who had access to the victim in the case, and investigators obtained a DNA sample from him yesterday using a court order, police said. Sutherland was not working at the time police retrieved the evidence. 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. A statement released through the family's attorney, John Micheaels, on Wednesday said they were aware of the arrest but declined to comment further, asking for privacy. On Tuesday, Micheaels released a statement saying the family "would like to make clear that their daughter is not in a coma." "She has significant intellectual disabilities as a result of seizures very early in her childhood," the statement read. "She does not speak but has some ability to move her limbs, head and neck. Their daughter responds to sound and is able to make facial gestures. 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." The difference between being in a coma and being in a vegetative state is that a patient in a coma is completely unresponsive, does not react to light or sound, cannot feel pain and whose eyes remain closed. Comas normally last for a finite period of time – days, weeks or even months, according to the non-profit American Hospice Foundation. A patient in a vegetative state is still unconscious, but such a condition can be characterized by involuntary eye movement, teeth-grinding and facial expressions. Some patients in a vegetative state can remain so for years or indefinitely. After the birth, Hacienda Healthcare released a statement describing the incident as “deeply disturbing,” saying it would fully cooperate with law enforcement in the investigation. Officials at the facility released a new statement on Wednesday morning in response to the arrest "Every member of the Hacienda organization is troubled beyond words to think that a licensed practical nurse could be capable of seriously harming a patient," the statement reads, in part. "Once again, we offer an apology and send our deepest sympathies to the client and her family, to the community and to our agency partners at every level. Every member of the Hacienda organization is troubled beyond words to think that a licensed practical nurse could be capable of seriously harming a patient. "Nathan Sutherland, who held a current state of Arizona practical nurse’s license and who had undergone an extensive background check upon hiring – was terminated from Hacienda the moment our leadership team learned of his arrest." "We will do everything in our power to ensure justice in this case," the statement continues. Sources told Phoenix CBS affiliate KPHO, which first reported the incident, that the woman had been a patient at the facility for at least 10 years after a near-drowning incident left her in a vegetative state. None of the staff was aware that she was pregnant, a source told the station. The woman gave birth to a healthy baby boy on Dec. 29, KPHO reported. After the birth, the facility was mandated to increase security and staff presence during interaction with patients and increase monitoring of patient care areas, the Arizona state Department of Health Services told ABC Phoenix affiliate KNXV earlier this month. Additionally, another person is required to be in the room when male health-care aides provide treatment to female patients. On Wednesday, Hacienda Healthcare officials said as part of their statement that security measures have continually increased since news of the incident first surfaced. It remains unclear whether Sutherland has retained a defense attorney. A spokesman for the Maricopa County Public Defender's office did not immediately respond to an ABC News request to determine whether Sutherland has been assigned a public defender. ABC News' Clayton Sandell, Bonnie Mclean and Crystal Muguerza contributed to this report.<doc-sep>The parents of an Arizona woman in a vegetative state who gave birth released a statement Tuesday that they said sought to counter any misconceptions about their daughter's condition. The 29-year-old woman gave birth to a baby boy on Dec. 29 at a long-term care center, Hacienda HealthCare in Phoenix, where her caregivers had not been aware she was pregnant. Her family in a statement Tuesday through their attorney said she is "not in a coma." "She has significant intellectual disabilities as a result of seizures very early in her childhood," the attorney's statement said. "She does not speak but has some ability to move her limbs, head and neck. Their daughter responds to sound and is able to make facial gestures. The important thing is that she is a beloved daughter, albeit with significant intellectual disabilities." The Brain Foundation defines a person in a vegetative state as awake but showing no signs of awareness. They may be able to open their eyes, wake up and fall asleep, and have basic reflexes according to the Brain Foundation's website. "In contrast, a coma is a state that lacks both awareness and wakefulness," the website states. NBC News was not immediately able to reach the family's attorney to get more information on her condition. The family's statement comes a day after news broke that one of the physicians responsible for their daughter's care was suspended and another resigned. Hacienda HealthCare's former CEO Bill Timmons, resigned on Jan. 7. Authorities are investigating the woman's case as a sexual assault. Phoenix police collected DNA samples from Hacienda’s male staff earlier this month and the facility announced on Jan. 13 that it hired a private lawyer to determine how the woman was impregnated. Last week, citing "several significant concerns," state officials ordered Hacienda to pay for an outside manager to oversee its operations.<doc-sep>A nurse at a Phoenix nursing home who had been assigned to care for a woman in a vegetative state who was raped and later gave birth to a child was charged on Wednesday with sexual assault, the police said. Detectives at the Phoenix Police Department took the nurse, Nathan Sutherland, 36, in for questioning in the case on Tuesday, the police said, and collected a DNA sample from him that matched that of the child, a boy who was born on Dec. 29. Mr. Sutherland was booked on Wednesday morning at the Maricopa County Jail on one charge of sexual assault and one charge of vulnerable adult abuse, the police said. “Through a combination of good old-fashioned police work, combing through evidence, talking to people and following up on information, combined with the marvels of DNA technology, we were able to identify and develop probable cause to arrest a suspect,” Jeri L. Williams, the Police Department’s chief, said at a news conference on Wednesday. Detectives started to focus on Mr. Sutherland because he was among the medical staff members at the nursing home, Hacienda HealthCare, who were assigned to care for the woman around the time last year that the police believe she was assaulted. The woman had been at the nursing home since 1992 and since then had been in the same condition, unable to communicate or move, according to medical records. A lawyer for the family on Wednesday said they were aware of the arrest but had no comment.<doc-sep>
Nathan Sutherland's arrest follows a police investigation into how a 29-year-old resident of a long-term care facility became pregnant Nurse Arrested in Sexual Assault of Woman Who Gave Birth in Long-Term Vegetative State A nurse has been arrested in the sexual assault of an Arizona woman who gave birth last month while in a long-term vegetative state. Nathan Sutherland, 36, worked as a licensed practical nurse at the Hacienda HealthCare facility where staff members were startled to encounter the 29-year-old Native American woman giving birth on Dec. 29, police announced in a news conference Wednesday, reports The Associated Press, Phoenix-area radio station KTAR and Phoenix TV station KPHO. Sutherland was arrested on one count of sexual assault and one count of vulnerable adult abuse, Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams told the media. DNA linked Sutherland to the case, police said. It was not immediately clear if Sutherland had an attorney who could speak on his behalf. Authorities said Sutherland was responsible for the woman’s care at the facility at the time of her alleged assault. Medical records earlier obtained by PEOPLE state the woman — a resident of the facility since she was a toddler — “lacks sufficient understanding and mental capacity to make decisions or give consents for her medical, placement or financial estate” and suffers from quadriplegia, recurrent pneumonia and a seizure disorder. Incapacitated Woman Birth - 23 Jan 2019 Nathan Sutherland | Credit: Uncredited/AP/REX/Shutterstock Her family’s attorney, John Micheaels, previously had portrayed the woman as someone “in a completely vulnerable state,” while a statement confirming the woman as a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe described her as “in a persistent vegetative state and coma.” • Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Her family said Tuesday in a statement released through their attorney that the woman “is not in a coma,” despite assertions by police she’s in a vegetative state and the medical records that say she has been unresponsive for decades. “She does not speak but has some ability to move her limbs, head and neck,” the statement said. “Their daughter responds to sound and is able to make facial gestures.” “The important thing is that she is a beloved daughter, albeit with significant intellectual disabilities,” the statement continued. “She has feelings, likes to be read to, enjoys soft music, and is capable of responding to people she is familiar with, especially family.” The exact cause of the woman’s condition has not been revealed. The records obtained by PEOPLE show that she’s lived at the Phoenix facility since the age of 2 or 3, and received at least monthly visits in recent years by her mother, who is her court-appointed guardian.