San Francisco man arrested for not taking TB meds

[redheadbaker]

www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=152890968

TB Patient Charged In Calif For Not Taking Meds
by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN FRANCISCO May 17, 2012, 04:47 am ET

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Armando Rodriguez was warned several times to continue taking his tuberculosis medicine.

At one point, authorities said, he told his case officer he stopped the treatment out of concern for his liver while binging on alcohol and methamphetamine.

So on Tuesday, authorities took the unusual step of arresting Rodriguez and charging him with refusing to comply with a tuberculosis order to be at home at certain times and make appointments to take his medication.

It's a move that divides public health officials.

"I think it's an error to confine someone in the criminal justice system for a public health crime," said Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown University public health law professor who drafted a model law adopted by several states struggling with the issue. "The whole intention is to protect the public's health. It's not to lay blame on someone."

Health officials say Rodriguez, 34, of Stockton has active pulmonary tuberculosis, which can include coughing up blood or phlegm and can spread through the air.

Rodriguez has been noncompliant with his treatment and could become contagious as a result, Ginger Wick, nursing director for San Joaquin County, said in a letter requesting a warrant for Rodriguez's arrest.

After failing one time to give himself the drugs, Rodriguez told a nurse he had gone on an alcohol binge and taken methamphetamine and didn't want to hurt his liver, Wick said in her letter.

Rodriguez was arrested Tuesday and is expected to be arraigned Thursday on two misdemeanor counts.

He will likely be appointed a public defender.

Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection that usually attacks the lungs. Many people have a latent form, and the active form usually only affects adults whose immune systems are compromised, which can happen from drug use.

Public health experts are divided on the issue of mandatory treatment and criminal charges for patients who don't comply with treatment orders.

Many of those who do support criminal prosecution in the rarest of cases when public health is in jeopardy oppose the jailing of patients.

Implementing mandatory treatment should be a last resort, and prosecuting someone for disobeying a public health order is unhelpful and sends the wrong message if protecting public health is the intent, Georgetown's Gostin said.

Instead, the afflicted should be given assistance such as transportation to and from treatments rather than punishment as an incentive to take their medicine, he said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said laws to control the spread of tuberculosis have been in use for more than a century, though regulations differ in each state.

As many as 12,000 new cases of tuberculosis are reported in the country each year, the CDC reported. California recorded 2,317 new cases in 2011, a low since records have been kept.

Nonetheless, officials throughout the nation continue to struggle to stop the spread of tuberculosis, with several drug-resistant strains emerging in recent years.

Federal and state officials don't keep records of the number of people prosecuted for refusing to take their medicines. But some say it's exceedingly rare to file criminal charges in such cases.

San Joaquin County has had more than 30 tuberculosis prosecutions since 1984, prosecutor Stephen Taylor said, noting the county is more aggressive than other jurisdictions in prosecuting patients to get them to take their medication.

"The criminal cases we're dealing with generally involve drug users who are harder to treat and manage because the TB medicines conflict with street drugs," he said. "We have to throw these people in jail and treat them as in-patients. They don't cooperate as out-patients."

Karen Furst, San Joaquin County public health officer, said the county arranges transportation and other services to help patients stick to their drug regimen and turns to the legal system only as a last resort.

"I have to make sure that if I'm aware that somebody is in a position that could possibly be spreading a disease to another person, that I take steps that are necessary to prevent that from happening," she said.

Rodriguez was discharged in March from San Joaquin General Hospital with four medications for active tuberculosis and agreed to take the drugs under observation by a county health official on weekdays and on his own on weekends, authorities said.

He allegedly refused to take the drugs on another day and then was not at home on three occasions and missed an appointment.

Each charge against Rodriguez carries a maximum penalty of a year behind bars. In her letter, Wick said Rodriguez would need nine months of treatment.

[UMaineTeach]

I don't know as they should charge and jail (although, this guy and most of the 30 others were eligible to go to jail just for illegal drug use), but I do think that there should be mandatory hospital quarantine for patients who pose a public risk and refuse treatment.

[orangeblossom]

TB is no joke, and they have monitored therapy for a reason. For some public health nurses, monitoring TB medication use is a big part of their job. This is not the first time I've heard of this happening, but I believe the times I've heard about it before they were not charged, but they were taken in until they complied.

[Deleted]

""I think it's an error to confine someone in the criminal justice system for a public health crime,"

I found this to be an odd statement. Crime means criminal, does it not?

[AJL]

May 22, 2012 18:28:18 GMT -5 @bunnybean said:

I don't have a problem with this. This is a public health concern, and he needs help, too.

Jail non-vaxxers! Bwahahaha!

(Okay, not really, but someone had to go there, right? )

[whitepicketfence]

I don't have a problem with this. Due to it being a public health issue, there needs to be consequences for not complying with orders for treatment. He obviously needs help with his drug and possible alcohol addictions anyway. If this is a way to help him, then so be it.

[ChillyMcFreeze]

This reminds me of that guy who infected several women with HIV knowing his diagnosis. Some people need to be confined for the good of the community. It's one thing to accidentally expose people to TB. It's entirely another to prance your contagious ass all around town.

[wawa]

I get the importance of public health. I get that TB is a BFD.

But I'm still kinda squicked by the idea that we arrest people for nothing more than refusing to take medication.

I dunno. Seems like there has to be a better way to deal with this other than the criminal system.

[doctorwho]

It is more than refusing to take meds though. I'm sure if he refused to take meds and stayed at home, not putting anyone in danger, I doubt they'd resort to this. Instead, he's refusing his meds then getting all hopped up on meth, which can lead to all sorts of shenanigans that endanger the people he comes into contact with (other users, police, etc.). Then claiming he's avoiding the meds for his health. Because the meth is totes ok, but those meds boy....watch out.

[ttt]

After failing one time to give himself the drugs, Rodriguez told a nurse he had gone on an alcohol binge and taken methamphetamine and didn't want to hurt his liver, Wick said in her letter.

Lololololol

[Deleted]

May 23, 2012 6:55:46 GMT -5 ttt said:

After failing one time to give himself the drugs, Rodriguez told a nurse he had gone on an alcohol binge and taken methamphetamine and didn't want to hurt his liver, Wick said in her letter.

Lololololol

I'm glad someone else caught the absurdity of that!!!

[marie427]

I can't think of a better alternative here besides mandatory quarantining. I think the suggestion in the OP about driving him to and from the treatment center is absurd - based on the article, I don't get the feeling that he's not taking his meds because he doesn't have a ride. He doesn't seem to want to take the meds, period. In that case, the public needs to be protected. Yes, I don't love the idea of arresting someone for not taking their meds, but this is a pretty extreme situation.