Nurse Arrested For Raping Woman In Coma

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Arizona police eventually arrested a suspect in connection with the case of the woman who gave birth in a vegetative state. During a press conference, the police announced that they have in their custody 36-year-old Nathan Sutherland, who was serving as an RN at the Hacienda HealthCare city clinic where the 29-year-old gave birth in late December..

Sutherland was reportedly arrested on charges of sexual assault and abuse of a vulnerable adult. The arrest comes after DNA tests linked the nurse to the case.

According to the authorities, at the time of the alleged assault, Sutherland was in charge of caring for the young woman, whose medical records indicate that she suffers from "mental capacity, the ability to make her own decisions or consent to any medical or financial care," PEOPLE reported. She also suffers from quadriplegia, recurrent pneumonia and seizure disorder.

Although it had been reported that the young mother had been in a coma for decades, through her lawyer, the patient's family clarified that this is not the case, although she is in a limited state of health.

"He does not speak, but they have the ability to move their limbs, their head and their neck," the family said in a statement. "It responds to sounds and has the ability to make facial gestures."

The current health status of the young Native American woman has not yet been revealed, but according to PEOPLE, she had lived in the center since the age of 2 or 3 and received monthly visits from her mother.

Medical reports indicate that the last health exam that was performed was about eight months before the birth of her son. The examining doctor could not be reached by PEOPLE to comment on the matter.

Phoenix authorities have taken over the case after discovering that the mother has been in a vegetative state for more than a decade, after responding to a call on December 29 to assist a newborn with respiratory problems. The current condition of the child remains undisclosed.