Tightened security at airports has created new problems for medical patients, who may be subjected to embarrassing public pat-downs after imaging machines detect devices or implants related to their health.
The latest case involves Lori Dorn, a 44-year-old New York woman who learned in March that she had breast cancer. After tests revealed a high genetic risk for cancer, Ms. Dorn underwent a bilateral mastectomy in April as well as a grueling chemotherapy treatment that just ended in September. As part of her breast reconstruction, tissue expanders were implanted to stretch her skin before placement of a permanent breast implant.
But Ms. Dorn says that last week, on her way to San Francisco to visit friends, she was treated with hostility and humiliated after the tissue expanders were detected by a body scanning machine at Kennedy Airport in New York. She said the workers from the Transportation Security Administration would not let her retrieve a medical card explaining the implants, a situation she wrote about on her blog.
I told her that I was not comfortable with having my breasts touched, and that I had a card in my wallet that explains the type of expanders, serial numbers and my doctor’s information and asked to retrieve it. This request was denied. Instead, she called over a female supervisor who told me the exam had to take place. I was again told that I could not retrieve the card and needed to submit to a physical exam in order to be cleared. She then said, “And if we don’t clear you, you don’t fly,” loud enough for other passengers to hear. And they did. And they stared at the bald woman being yelled at by a T.S.A. supervisor.
I have been through emotional and physical hell this past year due to breast cancer…. I understand the need for safety when flying, but there is also a need for those responsible to be compassionate and sensitive to each situation.
Ms. Dorn said she is not opposed to being patted down, but believes she should have been given a chance to explain her medical situation and taken to a private area for the pat-down. She said a private pat-down was never offered.
She also says she still has several painful areas on her chest where her body is still healing. “The areas are very sensitive with or without touch,” she wrote in an e-mail.
Since posting her story this weekend, several Web sites, including her husband’s blog, Laughing Squid, as well as the blog Boing Boing, have picked up her story. She said she has been contacted by T.S.A. officials and plans to speak with them soon.
The T.S.A. e-mailed a statement about the incident, saying that proper screening procedures were followed.
We strive to treat every passenger with dignity and respect. In this case, that may not have happened. During the screening process, if advanced imaging technology detects an anomaly that cannot be cleared, secondary screening is required to ensure the passenger does not have threat items, such as explosives concealed under clothing.
All passengers may request private secondary screening. While an initial review indicates that proper screening procedures were followed, we regret that this passenger did not have a positive experience.
Allowing the passenger to display her medical card should have triggered a more compassionate response from the transportation security officer, such as an offer on our part of private screening.
The federal security director for J.F.K. has personally reached out and phoned the passenger about her experience in hope of gaining a better understanding of what happened and to help ensure a smoother checkpoint experience for passengers in similar circumstances going forward.
T.S.A. works with numerous groups including breast cancer organizations to continuously refine and enhance our procedures to improve the passenger experience while also ensuring the safety of the traveling public.
Ms. Dorn said the screening at the San Francisco airport before her return flight was uneventful, but she walked through a traditional metal detector rather than an imaging machine.
“The embarrassment came from trying to explain my situation to someone who didn’t want to hear it,” she said. “I was not refusing a pat-down if that’s what was necessary, and ultimately I submitted to one. I was objecting to how I was being treated.”
Ms. Dorn joins a long list of passengers with and without medical issues who have complained of mistreatment by T.S.A. screening workers.
Last year, MSNBC.com told the story of a woman who was forced to show her prosthetic breast during an airport screening. Another woman said she was embarrassed when, during the pat-down, a worker manipulated her breast prosthesis from side to side.
Joe Sharkey, a reporter for The New York Times, has also written about what many travelers perceive as attitude problems among screening workers.
