A
near-drowning had left the woman in a persistent vegetative state for nearly a
decade.
Her universe
consisted mostly of a room at a Phoenix Hacienda HealthCare facility where she
received round-the-clock care. So when she went into labor a few days after
Christmas, her caretakers were flummoxed.
"From
what I've been told, she was moaning," an unidentified source told Phoenix
CBS affiliate KPHO.
"And
they didn't know what was wrong with her. … None of the staff were aware that
she was pregnant until she was pretty much giving birth."
On December
29, with help from one of the facility's nurses, the patient gave birth to a
healthy baby boy, KPHO reported.
The birth -
and the sexual assault of a vulnerable individual that must have preceded it -
has cast a harsh glare on conditions at a nonprofit organization that bills
itself as a leading provider of health care for Phoenix's medically fragile.
A Phoenix
police spokesman told The Washington Post that the department is investigating
but did not release details about the case. A police report and 911 calls were
also not available Saturday.
Hacienda
HealthCare, which has 40 programs that serve more than 2,500 people a year in
Arizona, according to its website, did not immediately respond to calls and
messages seeking comment.
But amid the
firestorm that has engulfed it in the first week of the new year, the
organization has released two statements, vowing to determine what happened.
"As an
organization, Hacienda HealthCare stands fully committed to getting to the
truth of what, for us, represents an unprecedented matter," David
Leibowitz, spokesman for Hacienda HealthCare, said in a statement.
The
statement added that Hacienda is "already conducting a comprehensive
internal review of our processes, protocols, and people to ensure that every
single Hacienda resident is as safe and well cared for as possible. Anything
less than that is unacceptable to our team, our company's leaders and the
communities we serve."
No one has
been arrested in connection with the incident, and it's unclear whether police
have identified any suspects. In Arizona, sexually assaulting a vulnerable
adult is a felony.
Karina
Cesena told Phoenix independent news station KTVK that she is sleeping in her
22-year-old daughter's room at the facility until the assailant is found.
Cesena's
daughter has a traumatic brain injury that causes hundreds of seizures a day.
"I do
not [know if my daughter was victimized], but I do ask her, and she can answer
yes or no," Cesena told the news station. "She is not able to walk or
talk yet, but she does understand."
About
Hacienda HealthCare, Cesena said: "Trust has been broken. Trust has
definitely been broken.
Other family
members of patients told the news station that they'd noticed more security
guards and a new protocol requiring male staffers to be accompanied by female
staffers if they go into a female patient's room.
Arizona Gov.
Doug Ducey's office released a statement saying the reports are "deeply
troubling."
In addition
to working with police, the state is "reevaluating the state's contract
and regulatory authority as it relates to this facility and have been working
closely with state agencies to ensure all necessary safety measures are in
place," Patrick Ptak, a spokesman for the governor, said in a statement.
The state's Department of Economic Security dispatched a team to conduct health and safety checks at the facility, and the Department of Health Services has beefed up safety measures: more staff, increased monitoring and stronger security.
Hacienda HealthCare
was founded five decades ago. Then, it was called Hacienda de los Angeles, or
"the dwelling of the angels." Hacienda HealthCare over time became
the umbrella for several programs in the Phoenix area that treat chronically
ill infants, children and adults.
There have
been reports of patient mistreatment. For example, an investigation in 2013
found that a staff member had made "inappropriate, sexual statements"
about four clients. The staff member remarked that one client with intellectual
disabilities had been placed in a sexual position.
The worker
had also been observed watching clients touch themselves. The alleged incidents
weren't reported to the facility's administrators until a month after they
occurred.
That staff
member was ultimately terminated, but the state found that the facility
"failed to ensure clients . . . were treated with dignity."
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