PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — A woman who was diagnosed with tuberculosis declined to seek treatment and was being followed by a police officer who said they saw her board a bus to a casino.
But despite a warrant being issued for her arrest, the officer did not take the woman, who is only identified as V.N., into custody.
Court records did not say what casino she was heading to or why the officer who was tasked to arrest her did not follow through with the order. The arrest warrant did state that the officer was to execute the decree “in a safe manner,” NBC News reported.
The arrest warrant was issued last month for the woman and would have allowed her to be taken into custody and admitted to a facility for isolation, testing and treatment, KIRO reported.
“We have worked with family and community members for more than a year to do everything we can to persuade this woman to take her medication to protect herself and our community,” Nigel Turner, division director of Communicable Disease Control in Pierce County, said in a blog post in March. “After 15 court hearings, we are closing in on our last option.”
“In each case like this, we are constantly balancing risk to the public and the civil liberties of the patient. We are always hopeful a patient will choose to comply voluntarily. Seeking to enforce a court order through a civil arrest warrant is always our last resort,” Turner said, according to KIRO.
The woman was found in contempt of court last week for getting on the bus, ordering her to be taken into custody and treated for tuberculosis against her wishes, NBC News reported.
However, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office told NBC News via email that the woman was not found as of Tuesday.
The woman’s court-appointed attorney said her client may not be abiding by the judge’s order because she doesn’t understand what is happening.
Sara Tofflemire told The News Tribune of Tacoma that her client “has not acknowledged the existence of her own medical condition,” adding, “She has primarily focused on how she dislikes papers coming to her home, and not the import of the process in which she finds herself.”
Tuberculosis is a bacteria that primarily attacks the lungs but can affect the spine, kidneys and brain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Not everyone who has an infection can become sick, but the most common symptoms include:
- A bad cough lasting three weeks or longer
- Chest pain
- Coughing up blood
- Weakness or fatigue
- Weight loss
- Loss of appetite
- Chills
- Fever
- Night sweats
Tuberculosis can be spread through the air after someone who has the bacteria coughs or speaks and people near the infected person breathe in the bacteria. It cannot be spread by touch or by sharing food or drink, the CDC said.
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