A Washington woman with tuberculosis will be forced to undergo treatment after she was spotted boarding a bus to a casino, officials said.
The woman, identified in court documents only as V.N., was under an involuntary isolation order from Dec. 25, 2022, to Feb. 8, 2023, according to the health department. Officials said she started treatment but left before it was complete. Her lawyer previously said she’d been refusing care because she doesn’t understand the severity of her illness.
On Friday, Judge Philip Sorenson ordered that she be seized and treated against her will, online records show.
An officer with a warrant for the woman’s arrest was tailing her as she boarded the bus to the casino, but it’s unclear why he did not take her into custody when he saw her. According to a declaration filed with the court from Patricia Jackson, the chief of the Pierce County Corrections Bureau, the officer had been tasked with surveilling the woman to execute the warrant “in a safe manner,” NBC News reported.
“The officer began surveillance promptly following receipt of the warrant in March 2023 and observed a person they believed to be Respondent leave her residence, get onto a city bus, and arrive at a local casino,” Jackson said.
Officials did not name the casino where she gambled.
Sorensen signed an arrest warrant for V.N. last month, calling it a last resort. Before that, public health officials asked 16 times for the judge to force V.N. to take medication or isolate herself.
When she is custody, she will be taken to a specially designated facility at the Pierce County Jail for isolation, testing and treatment.
TB is caused by a bacterium that can attack vital organs. While it’s preventable and curable, it’s still a highly infectious disease that can spread through the air. Symptoms include a severe cough, weight loss, fever and night sweats.
