NBC NEWS – A Washington state woman who repeatedly refused a judge’s orders to isolate or take medication for tuberculosis was arrested Thursday, more than three months after a rare civil arrest warrant was issued, officials said.
The woman, identified in court documents as V.N., was detained and booked into a “negative pressure” room at the Pierce County Jail, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said.
The room is specially equipped for isolation, testing and treatment, the Tacoma-Pierce County Public Health Department said in a statement.
The sheriff’s spokesman, Darren Moss Jr., said V.N. will not face criminal charges but has been ordered to remain at the jail for at least 45 days.
“Depending on her treatment she could leave early or stay later,” he said in an email.
“We are hopeful she will choose to get the life-saving treatment she needs to treat her tuberculosis,” the health department said in a statement that thanked sheriff’s deputies “who supported public health with this necessary intervention.”
V.N.’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday evening.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Philip Sorensen first ordered V.N.’s involuntary detention on Jan. 19, 2022, finding that health officials had made “reasonable efforts” to obtain voluntary compliance …
