A worker at a long-term care facility where a woman who had been in a vegetative state for 14 years unexpectedly gave birth has been arrested and charged with sexual assault.

The woman, who is in her 20s and had been a long-term patient at the Hacienda Healthcare centre after suffering an injury, went into labour on the afternoon of 29 December, police in Arizona said. The child was delivered alive and healthy.

Phoenix police spokesman Sergeant Tommy Thompson identified the suspect as Nathan Sutherland, 36, who he said had worked at the facility since 2011.

“This was an employee, rather than a stranger who made his way into the facility,” Thompson told a news conference. “We have no indication that there were other people involved, but again, this is an ongoing investigation.”

The victim has been in the facility since 1992, according to local media.