A WOMAN in a decade long coma on Monday gave birth to a healthy boy, officials said yesterday.
The 29 year old woman was raped last summer at a nursing home in Brighton, New York, a suburb of Rochester, officials said.
There has been no arrest in the case, although a prime suspect, a former nursing home worker, pleaded guilty on Monday to charges of sexually abusing another patient at the same nursing home.
The newborn child weighed 2 pounds 11 ounces (1.2 kg) and was born nine weeks premature, said officials at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester.
The baby was born in natural childbirth at about 10 a.m. (local time), a hospital spokes man said.
The mother remains in a "persistent vegetative state."
The mother was in labour for little over an hour, the hospitals said. "After a quick, yet uneventful delivery, both mother and child are doing well," said the spokesman.
The mother, who has not been identified publicly, has been in a coma since an auto mobile accident while she was a 19 year old freshman at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
In late December last year, nursing staff noticed her expanding stomach and found she was pregnant.
Her parents opposed a termination of the pregnancy, citing their Catholic faith and that of their daughter, who had attended Catholic schools.
The baby is breathing on his own and expected to remain in the hospital four to five weeks.
Her parents have said through their attorney that they want to raise the child. Custody will be determined by a local family court.
The woman's pregnancy was noticed in late December, when she was still at the Westfall Health Care Centre, and she was transferred to the Rochester hospital.
The suspect, identified as a former Westfall employee, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour charge of sexually abusing a 48 year old woman at the same nursing home.
Police have sampled DNA from about 30 people who had access to the comatose woman, and tested the suspect's blood, but have not made an arrest.