Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Hacienda HealthCare, the Arizona longterm care facility that cared for an incapacitated female patient who recently gave birth to a child after authorities said she was raped by a nurse, will stay open after state intervention.
The facility in Phoenix originally said it would close, however the Arizona Department of Health Services will instead take control of its licensing authority, the Arizona Republic reported Friday.
"Given the high medical risks associated with transferring these patients, moving this medically fragile community is the option of last resort and not the state's goal," the Arizona Department of Economic Security and state Medicaid program said in a joint statement obtained by the Republic.
Heidi Capriotti, a spokeswoman for the Medicaid program, told the newspaper the state will now have more control over the facility, which has a 60-bed capacity.
Hacienda HealthCare previously announced its intention to close the facility on Thursday, ABC 15 reported. The TV station added that the company's board of directors considered maintaining the facility "not sustainable."
Hacienda HealthCare has been the subject of nationwide scrutiny since an intellectually disabled patient surprised caregivers by giving birth late last year.
In late January, law enforcement arrested Nathan Sutherland, a 36-year-old licensed practical nurse who helped care for the 29-year-old woman at the facility, and charged him with sexual assault and vulnerable adult abuse.
Officials said DNA that Sutherland provided matched that of the woman's child. His lawyers countered last month that the DNA match is his only connection to the incident.
