Ahead of the closure of its skilled nursing facility, an employee at Hacienda Healthcare said “a lot of lives” have been wrecked after a former licensed practical nurse was charged with sexually assaulting and abusing a patient.
The employee, who chose to remain anonymous, said employees and patients at the facility are now unsure of their future with the company, according to a report by Fox 10 Phoenix.
In December, a 29-year-old victim, who had been in a vegetative state since 1992 at the long-term care facility, gave birth to a baby despite Hacienda staff not knowing she was pregnant. In January, Nathan Sutherland, 36, a nurse at the facility was arrested and charged for allegedly raping and impregnating the victim, based on DNA evidence.
“(Sutherland) ruined a lot of lives doing that,” the employee told the television station. “He affected everyone that has ever worked for that company because now the Hacienda name has this scar on it, and if you were ever affiliated with Hacienda, people look down on you.”
The Hacienda SNF is scheduled to close in September and new admissions into the facility have been halted, the report stated. Long-time patients and staff are the only people left at the facility. The company is now trying to transfer nursing assistants to its intermediate care facility or other parts of the company, according to the employee.
