TSA sorry about breast cancer survivor patdown

NEW YORK - A breast cancer survivor said she was subjected to a humiliating public patdown at New York's Kennedy Airport even though she offered to produce documentation about her medical implants.

Business consultant Lori Dorn said on her website that the Transportation Security Administration patdown added insult to injury and humiliated her.

She was heading to San Francisco last week when a full-body scanner detected her prostheses.

She says the TSA agent refused to let her retrieve her medical documentation, and called over a female supervisor who told her 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," Dorn wrote.

"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 TSA Supervisor. ...

"I have been through emotional and physical hell this past year due to breast cancer. The way I was treated by these TSA agents added a s---load of insult to injury and caused me a great deal of humiliation.

"At what point does the need for security eclipse human dignity and compassion?" Dorn wrote. "I can only comfort myself with the fact that Karma is always circular."

After posting the account on her web page, Dorn announced on her Twitter account that the general manager of Kennedy Airport had called her to apologize.

Bob Burns, a Social Media Analyst with the Transportation Security Administration, apologized for the TSA on the agency's blog. "We do our best to treat passengers with the dignity and respect they deserve, but in Lori Dorn's case, it looks like we missed our mark," he wrote. "We sincerely regret and apologize for the experience Mrs. Dorn had at JFK.

"The Federal Security Director for JFK has personally reached out to learn more about what happened so he can help ensure that she and others will have better travel experiences in the future. While security is our primary mission, he apologized to Mrs. Dorn for not delivering the customer respect he wants all passengers flying through JFK to experience and offered to meet her the next time she flies through this airport."

TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said that Dorn's medical documentation wouldn't have spared her a patdown, but that it would have been done privately.

[susanwatson]

No one is asking for special treatment--it is ok for the TSA to conduct their "putdowns" as they so enjoy...it is simply their love of public humiliation to degrade a breast cancer patient any way they can. I had just completed a bilateral mastectomy, reconstruction, 6 months of chemo, and 6 weeks of radiation when the TSA agents at Stanford Airport in Orlando, Fl humiliated me. I was bald and the male agents were laughing saying "random putdown." I was bald at the time and tired and sick. I was crying...luckily there was a lady TSA agent who took pity on me and gave me a paper towel (not a tissue) to help me dry my tears. It was actually unbelievable. I have since read about the education level of TSA agents and realize that they are the "bottom of the barrel" so to speak. It is a shame that we hire these losers to protect our security. In fairness, I was in the Las Vegas airport recently and encountered TSA agents who were professional and friendly. I was shocked because every other airport I have been in the TSA agents are losers.

[WraithWoman]

I would be embarrassed if someone was patting me down in such a public setting in front of a group of people too. That however, is where my sympathies end. Other than for inflammatory purposes, I don't see what breast cancer really has to do with this. It looks to me like she had tissue expanders in place rather than actual breast implants. The TSA lady was correct, even with her medical documentation, it wouldn't have spared her a pat down. My grandmother has an artificial knee and takes her documentation to the airport(she even hands it directly to the TSA people at the security gate) and it doesn't keep her from extra searches either. They're safety measures, and everyone is subject to them. Perhaps (well if they could find a pilot to do it) those who are opposed to security checks can have their own flights that are full of others who refuse to submit or disagree with being searched. You fly at your own risk, and you are not allowed on flights with passengers who have cleared security. I think it's fair. Your rights and dignity are retained-you just assume responsibility for your own decision. I mean I don't look like a terrorist either but was more than ok with them pulling me to the side during security and checking my hands for bomb residue. I can understand the need for common sense-but it goes both ways. You know that if you set off a metal detector you're going to be searched, if you go through a scanner and they see something out of the norm-you're going to get searched. These things are pretty well common sense. I have deep sympathy for her because of her struggles ( I have a close relative with breast cancer)-but I don't feel bad for her just because she was treated like anyone else would have been.

[cbsblogger]

The "terrorists" mission has been accomplished. Had 9-11 been prevented as it should have been by our government, we'd not not be in 3 wars making trillions in profits for war profiteers, and the country broke, and there would be no Patriot Act, Dept of Homeland Security and TSA.

Were the beneficiaries of 9-11 the terrorists, or others?

[spredbury]

TSA....pure scum. Just pure scum. What more can you say.

[astra400]

There's a solution, as follows: Immediately disband the TSA. Take all the money saved and deploy explosves-sniffing K-9s handled by REAL law enforcement personnel. Dogs are far more effective at detecting bombs than any technology. Best of all, people don't have to bunch up at the checkpoint (a target-rich environment for a suicide bomber). Dogs can roam freely, following their noses. And, they can detect explosives up to fifteen minutes after the source leaves the area and then track it down. No more groin grabbing or prosthesis poking by semi-trained clueless rent-a-cops.

[mollykj]

Most unfortunately, the only way I see that TSA would ever be "disbanded" would be if they "passed" someone through who actually had an explosive device on them and either an airport or a passenger plane suffered the results of that oversight. The resulting hounding might actually get through to the Congress and they would be forced to defund the program. The cost of that scenario is too high, so until the American traveling public gets totally fed up with this nonsense and votes with their pocketbooks, we're stuck with these morons at TSA groping us and peering at people's bodies with their scanners. I call it "government-mandated e-porn".

[illcountryboy]

Want to change it? - good luck. You citizens wanted the Patriot Act, you citizens support the draconian immigration laws in AZ ansd AL, you citizens will get what you want - but a taking away a freedom from one will eventually take it away from all.

[enlightenu]

Everyone should just accept that TSA agents don't know anything other than maintaining security. If we want a perfect system, then we have to pay for it, such as having a medical doctor present at each checkpoint.

[jsf14]

Unfortunately they also do not know much, if anything, about maintaining security. From my observations what most of them know is mindlessly going through motions. Also some of them know how to order people around.

[thomasmc1957]

Most TSA agents act like Nazi goons, what do you expect? Give tiny minded people a little power, and they act like Hitler.

[catwoman1952]

exactly, power corrupts and these TSA agents think they can get away with anything. I'll use the scanner, thank you. Touch me and you'll get a knee in the groin!

[jsf14]

"At what point does the need for security eclipse human dignity and compassion?" We SAY we have principles we are willing to die for. But what are they? Personally I am indeed willing to lay down my life for human dignity. But too may peole say, "I want to fly safely, no matter what you have to do to people to make my flight safe." Yes, I know terrorists might implant bombs in a woman. They might also booblytrap a baby or a ten year old. This does not make me willing to have the agents my tax dollars pay violate toddlers or humilate adults. The people who implemented the Spanish Imquisition or the star chambers of England would tell you why such things were necessary. We now say, "horrible" about them and see them as worse than the people they were fighting. What will our descendants say about us?

[hdc77494]

The problem is, there are no consequences when the government screws up. They can just shrug their shoulders and mess with the next cancer survivor or two year old.