Police are investigating after a woman who had been in a vegetative state in a care facility in the US for more than a decade gave birth.
The woman was a patient at a clinic run by Hacienda HealthCare in Phoenix Arizona and had been in a vegetative state for over ten years after she nearly drowned.
She reportedly gave birth to a healthy baby boy on December 29.
Hacienda HealthCare said it was aware of a "deeply disturbing incident" and the facility was co-operating fully with the authorities. The woman has not been identified.
Staff were unaware the woman was pregnant until shortly before the baby was due, according to local news outlets.
One source told a local station KPHO-TV "None of the staff were aware that she was pregnant until she was pretty much giving birth."
A Phoenix police spokesman said that "the matter is currently under investigation" but declined to say when the inquiry had started or to give further details.
David Leibowitz, a spokesman for Hacienda Healthcare, said the group was "fully committed to getting to the truth of what, for us, represents an unprecedented matter".
