Arizona care facility CEO resigns after vegetative patient gave birth – NBC News

The CEO of an Arizona long-term care center where a woman who has been in a vegetative state for years gave birth last month has resigned.

Hacienda HealthCare CEO Bill Timmons announced his resignation Monday effective immediately. His resignation was accepted unanimously by the center’s board of directors, the Phoenix facility said in a press release Monday.

Hacienda “will accept nothing less than a full accounting of this absolutely horrifying situation, an unprecedented case that has devastated everyone involved, from the victim and her family to Hacienda staff at every level of our organization,” Gary Orman, executive vice president of the board, said in a press release Monday evening.

The center is cooperating with agencies investigating the matter, Orman said.

“And we will do everything in our power to ensure the safety of every single one of our patients and our employees,” Orman said.

Phoenix police confirmed to NBC-affiliate 12News that they are investigating the matter, but declined to give details.

An unidentified source told 12News that the woman’s caregivers at Hacienda weren’t aware she was pregnant until she was in labor and started to moan.

The patient has been in a vegetative state and at the facility for about 10 years after a near-drowning incident, the Associated Press reported.

A person is considered in a vegetative state when they are awake but not showing any signs of awareness, according to the Brain Foundation.