CHICAGO – The family of a brain-damaged woman has filed a lawsuit alleging she was sexually assaulted at a nursing home and is now pregnant.
Attorney Ed Fox said Thursday the 23-year-old woman has been in "a quasi-vegetative state since birth" and can't walk or talk. She was living at the Alden Village Health Facility for Children and Young Adults in Bloomingdale when she was discovered to be 29 weeks pregnant last month, he said. She has since been moved to another facility.
"The woman was clearly raped," said Fox, who is representing the patient's mother in her suit against the nursing home. "Equally outrageous is that they seemed to have concealed the pregnancy."
Jane Amata, an Alden vice president, said in a statement the nursing home is cooperating with the investigation and is "committed to the delivery of quality care."
Employees at the nursing home were providing DNA samples as authorities seek to identify the father, Fox said. He added the child likely will have health problems because the mother has been on medication and received no prenatal care.
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