A female tuberculosis patient from Tacoma, Washington, who resisted treatment for more than a year has been formally detained by authorities.
The woman, who is only known by the initials “V.N.” in court records, initially gained notoriety in February when she wilfully disobeyed court orders and put other people in danger by moving around with an active tuberculosis infection.
However, according to a revised Insider story, the contentious patient was formally lodged in the Pierce County Jail on Thursday. She apparently lived in a room so she could stay segregated and stop the disease from spreading.
Months after a civil arrest order was issued for the woman, she was finally detained. She was given an early April isolation order by a judge in Pierce County, who also noted that she should self-quarantine beginning on April 5 and continuing through May 22.
Authorities warned her at the time that if she disobeyed court orders once again, she would be jailed. 16 times before that, they had made an effort to persuade the woman to follow the court’s directives.
Tacoma News Tribune reports that on January 18, 2022, the woman received her initial isolation order. She started treatment, but she decided against finishing it and to stop being in isolation.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department commented on the most recent development in the case and expressed their desire for the patient to finally get the care she requires for her illness.
The department added that the room she is staying in at the institution is “specially equipped for isolation, testing, and treatment,” and expressed optimism that she will decide to obtain the life-saving therapy she requires to treat her tuberculosis.
The woman had been in the news prior to being arrested for incidents that could have exposed other individuals to her bacteria.
A few months ago, V.N. as a passenger, was involved in an automobile accident. She reportedly went to the emergency room, where she was evaluated by hospital staff members without disclosing that she had a TB infection that was still active.
Following a review of her chest X-rays, doctors concluded that she had cancer. Authorities came to the conclusion that she hadn’t been keeping her distance from other individuals because she had tested positive for COVID-19 at the time.
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