Hacienda HealthCare Might Finally Lose Its License—Over Maggots, Not Rape

Hacienda HealthCare—the Phoenix, Arizona facility where an incapacitated patient was raped and gave birth last December—could now potentially lose its license. Yet the potential revoking comes not after charges that a nurse allegedly raped a patient, but over another issue entirely: maggots, which were found on another patient.

A spokesperson for the healthcare facility said “several” maggots were found under a 28-year-old patient’s gauze bandage, according to CBS News. Oversight agencies were alerted, and the spokesperson added that the rest of Hacienda HealthCare was not “similarly impacted.”

The news came last Friday, and the Arizona Department of Health Services moved quickly to revoke Hacienda HealthCare’s license, releasing a statement that same day. Per CBS News:

“Based on findings from a recent survey and an extremely disturbing incident involving inadequate patient care that was reported to and investigated by ADHS this week, the Department has determined strong and immediate action is necessary to further protect the Hacienda ICF-IID residents,” the statement said.

The move to revoke Hacienda HealthCare’s license comes following months of devastating updates on the facility, including news that a woman in a vegetative state who gave birth last December was likely raped more than once and may have been pregnant before, and reports that former CEO Bill Timmons sexually harassed and bullied his staff. The facility has evaded scrutiny before. During a 2016 investigation, regulators advised the state to move developmentally disabled patients from the facility, but the investigation was dropped a year later

If the facility does not request a court date to fight to retain its license, it will be revoked on July 16, CBS News reports. Still, following multiple allegations of rape and sexual harassment, maggots are a ridiculous—but fitting—final straw for Hacienda.