Heathcare Worker Raped Fully Paralyzed Patient Who Later Gave Birth While In Vegetative State

A licensed healthcare worker has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a paralyzed female patient, who later gave birth.

The Christian rapper, 37-year-old Nathan Sutherland, has been a licensed healthcare worker for the past 14 years. He worked at the Hacienda HealthCare facility in Phoenix, Arizona.

A 29-year-old female patient at the facility, who was in a persistent vegetative state, gave birth in December of 2018.

The woman, whose identity will not be disclosed had suffered a number of severe seizures as an infant. She had also sustained brain damage after nearly drowning at the age of three.

After the victim gave birth to the baby, every male employee in the facility was asked to provide a DNA swab. The results positively identified Sutherland as the father of the baby boy.

Sutherland pleaded not guilty to rape during a trial in Feb. 2019, but on Wednesday, Sept. 2, he finally admitted his guilt in an open court.

A statement from Hacienda HealthCare read: "After more than 2-1/2 years, all of us at Hacienda Healthcare are relieved that Nathan Sutherland has finally pleaded guilty to his awful offenses. We have cooperated in every way possible with law enforcement and investigators. … Our hearts are with the victim and her family."

The victim’s family feared she had been "touched inappropriately", so in 2002, they had requested that she should only be cared for by female staff.

Despite this request, reports suggest that Sutherland had been alone with the victim "hundreds" of times.

In May 2019, the victim’s lawyers filed a legal claim against the state demanding $45 million in compensation for the "years of neglect, abuse, and exploitation."

In that lawsuit, the family claimed that the staff had noticed the woman’s swollen belly, but they had treated her for constipation.

The birth was only noticed when a nurse "saw a baby's head" in the victim’s briefs while she was changing her underwear.

According to hospital records, doctors found some injuries that pointed out a "history of vaginal penetration or trauma".

A doctor who examined the victim said that even though she was almost completely paralyzed, she was aware of the world around her and would have suffered the pain involved.

The legal claim states that the young woman "suffered unspeakable terror, anguish, and pain through repeated sexual assaults, probably over many years, and now lives with the emotional and physical scars".

The child is doing "quite well" according to recent reports.

Sutherland faces five to 10 years in prison. Court records revealed that he was divorced once in 2012 and that his current wife had filed for divorce in December last year.