City of Milwaukee v. Washington

Ruby Washington (defendant) was diagnosed with tuberculosis at a tuberculosis clinic. She received medication upon diagnosis but then failed to return for follow-up treatment. Because Washington was homeless, she could not be located. The City of Milwaukee Health Department (department) (plaintiff) obtained a court order for isolation and treatment under observation. The department served that order on Washington two months later when she was admitted to the Aurora Sinai Medical Center (medical center) to deliver a baby. The next day, Washington belligerently threatened to leave the medical center, prompting the department to seek judicial enforcement of the isolation-and-treatment order. The parties agreed that Washington would remain at the medical center pending a hearing. At the hearing, the department noted that Washington’s recovery had progressed. The parties agreed that Washington would live with her sister and report to the tuberculosis clinic regularly to receive observed treatment. However, shortly after release from the medical center, Washington left her sister’s house and did not return. She was arrested, and the department filed a motion of contempt asking that Washington be confined to the Milwaukee County Criminal Justice Facility (CJF) for treatment due to her failure to comply with the earlier court orders. Although Washington’s tuberculosis was not presently infectious, the department explained that she would soon become infectious absent treatment. The department argued the CJF was the best facility because it was already staffed with security. Confining Washington to the medical center, as she requested, would require an expenditure of taxpayer funds on police guards to prevent Washington from disappearing again. The trial court ordered Washington’s confinement to the CJF, and the court of appeals affirmed. Washington appealed, arguing that the relevant Wisconsin statute required that she be confined in a medical facility.