In Re Washington

2006 WI App 99, 716 N.W.2d 176
Court of Appeals of Wisconsin·Decided March 28, 2006·No. 2005AP3141·Published

Opinion

716 N.W.2d 176 (2006)
2006 WI App 99

In the Interest of Ruby WASHINGTON.
City of Milwaukee, Petitioner-Respondent,
v.
Ruby Washington, Respondent-Appellant.[†]

No. 2005AP3141.

Court of Appeals of Wisconsin.

Submitted on Briefs March 7, 2006.
Opinion Filed March 28, 2006.

*177 On behalf of the respondent-appellant, the cause was submitted on the brief of William J. Tyroler, Assistant State Public Defender, Milwaukee.

On behalf of the petitioner-respondent, the cause was submitted on the brief of Grant F. Langley, City Attorney, and Stuart S. Mukamal, Assistant City Attorney.

Before WEDEMEYER, P.J., FINE and KESSLER, JJ.

¶ 1 FINE, J.

Ruby Washington appeals from the trial court's order directing that she be confined under WIS. STAT. § 252.07(9) for tuberculosis treatment. The only issue on appeal is where she should be confined. We affirm.[1]

I.

¶ 2 The facts in this case are not disputed. Washington has pulmonary tuberculosis, which if not treated properly is not only dangerous to the infected person but also is dangerous to others, who can inhale the bacteria expelled by an infected person. And it does not take much to get tuberculosis bacteria into the air from which others can be infected. The City of Milwaukee tuberculosis program manager testified at a hearing before the trial court that tuberculosis can get into the air by an infected person "[c]oughing, laughing, singing, talking, sneezing." Although a person suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis who is on appropriate drug-therapy may be non-communicable, that person can become communicable unless he or she completes the course of treatment. WISCONSIN STAT. § 252.07 sets out procedures designed to protect both the public and those afflicted with the disease.

*178 ¶ 3 Washington did not cooperate with attempts to help her overcome her pulmonary tuberculosis and to keep her from infecting others. She was living in a homeless shelter on June 17, 2005, when she was first diagnosed as having the disease. As recounted in an affidavit executed by a tuberculosis-control-clinic public-health nurse, Washington was started on medication for her tuberculosis on June 21, 2005, and was given bus tickets so she could go to the tuberculosis clinic and take her medication "under direct observation" of the clinic staff. This did not work, however, because Washington missed two appointments and "disappeared from public view."

¶ 4 On August 22, 2005, Washington was found at the Aurora Sinai Medical Center, where she had gone to give birth. When she threatened to leave the hospital despite her tuberculosis, she was kept at the hospital in inpatient confinement against her will until, several days later, she and the City of Milwaukee stipulated that she would stay at the medical center for at least one month or until she was no longer contagious, and that after her release she would continue a course of supervised treatment for some nine months to ensure that she was cured.

¶ 5 On September 27, 2005, the trial court issued an order permitting Washington's release from the hospital, "but only on the condition that she strictly comply" with City orders that she fulfill and complete her course of treatment, and that this compliance be assured by having public-health staff see Washington take her prescribed medications. The order also required that Washington live with her sister, at whose home Washington "shall continuously reside and remain available for contact at that address until such time as in the judgment of the City of Milwaukee Health Department, her treatment is complete and she is cured of the disease of tuberculosis." Further, the order recited that if Washington "fails to fully and completely comply with the provisions of this Order, she may be subject to imprisonment, to renewed isolation and inpatient confinement pursuant to WIS. STAT. §§ 252.07(8) and (9) and/or to such other and additional sanctions for contempt of court as this Court may determine."[2]

*179 ¶ 6 Washington was released from Aurora Sinai Medical Center on September 27, 2005, and, on that very day, left her sister's home. Further, she did not comply with the required treatment-regimen. On September 29, 2005, Washington was arrested for violating the trial court's order, and, after being assessed at Aurora Sinai Medical Center, was taken to the Milwaukee County Criminal Justice Facility. On October 1, 2005, she was released from the Facility because of an apparent bureaucratic mix-up. The City found Washington on October 5, 2005, and she was again taken into custody.

*180 ¶ 7 The trial court held a hearing on October 5, 2005, and, on that day, issued the order from which Washington appeals. The order directed that Washington "be confined in the Milwaukee County Criminal Justice Facility" unless otherwise ordered, and directed that Washington "shall fully comply" with her treatment regimen. Uncontradicted testimony at the October 5 hearing established that the required treatment and observation would take "nine cumulative months" from October 5. If that were not done, the City's tuberculosis program manager told the trial court that both the public and Washington would suffer serious consequences:

[Washington's] personal consequences could include death, could include severe illness. She would again become incapacitated at some point, probably very weak and debiled, not feel very well at all. The consequences for the public would be transmission of tuberculosis to people.

The order also set April 7, 2006, for trial-court review of Washington's condition and circumstances.

¶ 8 As noted, Washington does not dispute either that she has pulmonary tuberculosis or that she must complete her course of treatment to get fully well and not be a danger to others in the community. She contended before the trial court, however, and argues on appeal, that she should not be at the criminal-justice facility, but, rather, at the hospital or some other non-jail-type facility, even if that required that she be guarded twenty-four hours a day. The trial court rejected that contention:

There [has been] non-compliance and the risk of the community is way too high to allow her to just walk out the door today. Now, [addressing Washington's trial lawyer], I have — I do not know where else I can place your client but in the jail at this point for confinement.... [I]f you can find some other locked facility for your client that would agree to take her, the Court would be happy to order her placed somewhere else, and I'm sure the City would agree. The problem is that I need to have a locked facility where she's going to stay put.... With respect to the [suggestion] that I place a guard at the hospital and allow her to stay at the hospital for the remainder of her treatment[,] I refuse to require tax payers to pay [for] 24 hour around the clock guard at her door to make sure she stays put. I don't think that's appropriate. Miss Washington was given an opportunity to receive treatment in the community and she failed to do that.

We agree.

II.

¶ 9 This appeal comes to us in two interconnected postures. First, an appeal from the trial court's order, in which the trial court specifically did not invoke its contempt power. Second, by virtue of an order issued by this district's motions judge on January 9, 2006, that nevertheless characterized the trial court's order as "at base, an appeal from a contempt order." See WIS. CT.APP.

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In Re Washington, 2006 WI App 99, 716 N.W.2d 176 (Wis. Ct. App. 2006).

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