An Arizona nurse confessed Thursday to raping and impregnating a patient while in an unconscious state and could face 5-10 years in prison.
Arizona resident Nathan Sutherland pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a patient while she was in a vegetative state three years ago, Fox News reported. That patient later became pregnant as a result of the assault and gave birth to his child, according to the report. (RELATED: Man Drugged And Raped Teen Daughter’s Friends At Slumber Parties, Police Say)
#BREAKING: Nathan Sutherland, the former Hacienda Healthcare nurse who is accused of raping a patient who later birthed a child, has pleaded guilty to sexual abuse charges. https://t.co/RBr6dG8a0K pic.twitter.com/rVqC0TADOt
— ABC15 Arizona (@abc15) September 2, 2021
Along with the sexual assault charge, the former Hacienda nurse also pleaded guilty to “abuse of a vulnerable adult,” Fox News reported. Since he pleaded guilty to the charges, a deal was made that he would face 5 1/4 to 10 years in prison plus lifetime probation, according to the outlet.
Other nurses did not take the plea deal well, including a former nurse who claimed that the deal was “a slap on the wrist,” KPHO-TV reported.
“This man did a heinous crime and he’s getting a slap on the wrist and it’s not right and everyone I talked to that worked at Hacienda, they’re furious. None of us can believe that’s all he’s going to get is a slap on the wrist,” said Davena Ballard, who was a nurse at a Hacienda-affiliated program, according to KPHO-TV.
Sutherland was arrested after DNA testing confirmed that he was the father of the patient’s child, KPHO-TV reported. The discovery of the patient’s pregnancy occurred in December of 2018 when an employee was changing her garments and realized that she was about to give birth.
The parents of the patient filed a lawsuit against Sutherland, alleging that he was tending to their daughter’s care between 2012 and 2018, despite having been promised by the state that only women would tend to her care, according to Fox News.