TACOMA — A Tacoma woman serving involuntary home detention for tuberculosis will be forced to take medication at a medical facility if she doesn’t comply with the latest court order.
On Friday, Pierce County Superior Court Judge Philip Sorensen ordered that the woman’s home detention would continue through 5 p.m., Aug. 28, with the next review hearing scheduled for Aug. 21.
She remains under electronic home monitoring under the supervision of the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department and a court visitor.
Under the ongoing terms of her conditional release, she is required to answer the door for any health department staff member administering medication and testing, as well as any law enforcement officer and any personnel associated with the electronic-monitoring program. She is not allowed to leave her home, except for medical care, until three consecutive negative sputum tests are achieved. The tests detect germs that can cause an infection.
A hand-written addition to the order issued Friday states that should the woman “fail to take medication, court orders transport to medical facility for forced administration of medication.”
No further details were made public, including whether the woman has abided by all of the details of her court-ordered home detention.
In a statement posted on its blog Friday, TPCHD said, “We will continue to work with this patient to provide testing and treatment to help cure her tuberculosis.”
TPCHD’s media representative Kenny Via sent an additional statement to The News Tribune on Monday afternoon in response to questions.
“We are continuing to work with this patient and making progress,” Via wrote. “Tuberculosis treatment is complex and takes time. We do not plan to force this patient to take medication, but we are doing all we can to ensure her TB is treated safely and effectively.”
The case dates to mid-January 2022, when the patient, identified as “V.N.” in the court records, was first ordered to isolate, test and follow treatment for the disease.
Multiple court filings revealed that the woman continued to evade orders for more than a year. Eventually, a civil warrant for arrest was issued in March 2023, and law enforcement in its surveillance witnessed her taking a local bus to a casino.
She was arrested June 1 and jailed in a negative-pressure room at the Pierce County Jail.
She was later released June 23 to involuntary home detention with conditions that include a court-appointed visitor to check on her status. She also is required to take “all doses of treatment protocol until completed as dictated by TPCHD or its designee.”
