Hacienda HealthCare could lose license after maggots were found near patient's incision

PHOENIX (FOX 10) -- The Arizona Department of Health Services is moving to revoke the license of the facility, the same facility where an incapacitated woman gave birth after being raped.

The Notice of Intent was filed last Friday, as news spread of a patient at the facility who was found with maggots near a stoma incision. Hacienda has 30 days to file an appeal and make its case, or lose its license. FOX 10 has asked Hacienda officials if they plan to file an appeal, and all they would say is they are working with ADHS to determine the best path forward.

Meantime, people with loved ones at the facility are finding themselves again in shock and limbo. At Hacienda HealthCare on Monday, it appeared to be business as usual, but after a second horrific incident at the facility in months, the turmoil is obvious.

"How could something like this happen? It's negligence," said Angela Gomez, whose 25-year-old son's room is across the hall from the patient found with maggots around a stoma incision. "I came Friday. I flipped my son's mattress, I brought my own cleaners in, cleaned his bed, cleaned his mattresses, stripped his pillowcases, his sheets, and I cleaned his room the way I like things cleaned, but even with that, you still never know."

Officials with Hacienda says it immediately took measures to make sure the facility was pest free. According to Gomez, there are about 50 patients left in Hacienda's Intermediate Care Facility. She said several left since the rape incident in December. The alleged rapist, since identified as Nathan Dorceus Sutherland, is a former nurse at the facility. He is awaiting trial.

Gomez said things had just started to settle down from that stunning incident.

"Just when you think everything is running smooth, you hear of another horrible incident occurring here," said Gomez. "Even with the state in the house, that shouldn't have happened."

Yet, with few options for care for her son's care, Gomez said she hopes they keep part of the Hacienda open, but with even more oversight by the state.