Rape Victim-Mother Dies At Care Center

A nursing home patient who was raped while in a comalike state and gave birth without ever regaining consciousness has died at 30.

The woman, identified only as Kathy, died over the weekend at a health care center, said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The cause of death was not disclosed.

The woman fell into a chronic vegetative state after a car wreck in 1985. A decade later, she was raped by a nurse’s aide. Her Roman Catholic family ruled out an abortion and decided to raise the boy, whose first birthday was Tuesday.

Doctors said it was the first case of a woman in a comalike state becoming pregnant and giving birth.

On Feb. 27, John Horace, 53, was convicted of raping the woman. He could get up to 25 years in prison at sentencing March 27.