'The Baby's Turning Blue!': Panicked 911 Call After Woman in Coma Gives Birth in Nursing Facility

In the 911 call, the nurse at Hacienda HealthCare repeatedly says staff members at the facility 'had no idea' the woman was pregnant

Photo: Ross D Franklin/AP/REX/Shutterstock

Phoenix police have released the 911 call from inside an Arizona nursing facility after a woman in a long-term vegetative state gave birth to a baby boy.

On the audio, which was obtained by PEOPLE, a nurse at the long-term care facility run by Hacienda HealthCare expresses shock and fear that the child might not survive.

“The baby’s turning blue! The baby’s turning blue!,” the nurse says in the Dec. 29 call released by police investigating the birth to the 29-year-old mother as the result of a sexual assault.

“One of the patients just had a baby and we had no idea she was pregnant,” the nurse frantically tells a paramedic on the line in the 5-minute, 15-second call.

“And the mom is doing OK?” the paramedic asks.

“We’re not sure, we had no idea this patient was pregnant,” the nurse replies.

Court records in the case of the Native American woman, who has been a resident of the facility since she was a toddler of 2 or 3 years old, indicate her last annual exam by a doctor took place on April 16, 2018, more than eight months prior to the child’s delivery.

The records obtained by PEOPLE from Maricopa County Superior Court date back to a 2009 order that transferred guardianship of the woman from her biological father to her mother. According to the documents, the woman suffers from quadriplegia, recurrent pneumonia and a seizure disorder.

The documents do not reveal what led to her condition.

The facility described the assault as “deeply disturbing but unprecedented.” Gary Orman, the facility’s executive vice president, pledged to assist with the police investigation, which includes collecting DNA samples from male staffers who work at the facility.

The company’s CEO resigned following reports of the birth.

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In the 911 call, the nurse assures the paramedic that CPR is being performed on the newborn. The paramedic asks how far along the woman’s pregnancy was.

“We have no idea,” the nurse says. “This is a complete surprise. We were not expecting this.”

Moments later, after asking someone in the background if the baby has begun breathing, the nurse says with obvious relief, “Oh, the baby’s breathing. Oh my god, thank God.”

The paramedic confirms he hears the sounds of a newborn crying in the background.

“You guys did great, OK,” he says, before confirming that paramedics are “on the way.”

John Micheaels, an attorney for the woman’s family, said in a statement to PEOPLE that they were “outraged and traumatized,” by the incident but added, “The family would like me to convey that the baby boy has been born into a loving family and will be well cared for.”

Where the child is now has not been revealed. Initially, police said the child and his mother, whose name has not been publicly shared, were recovering at a local hospital.