Terminally Ill Woman Forced to Remove “Depends” in TSA Search

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TSA Picks on the Terminally Ill

And I thought I was upset when the TSA confiscated my peanut butter for being, quote, “spreadable.”

Already no stranger to controversy, the TSA seems to have reached a new low. During a recent screening in Florida, TSA agents required a terminally ill 95-year-old woman–a woman so frail that she had to receive a blood transfusion in preparation for her trip, in which she was flying to move in with relatives–to remove her soiled adult diaper to facilitate their search.

She had no clean replacement on-hand.

I understand the higher goal of security. I believe in security. And I understand that terrorists will sometimes use profiling procedures to their advantage, specifically recruiting those who are least suspect to subvert screening.

I also understand that we would be at less risk for various cancers if we underwent daily colonoscopies and pelvic exams. At some point, though, the prevention becomes worse than the disease.

I believe in security, but I also believe in human dignity, and therein lies the problem.

We start playing with fire when we adopt official procedures that turn people into mere objects to be acted upon–monitored, prodded, probed, at any cost. The TSA has spoken in support of this search as being in line with their procedures. I believe their procedures are misguided.

If we can make it to the moon and back, if we can design high rises that extend into the clouds (with working toilets–that always amazed me), surely we can come up with the technology to screen those in frail health with more dignity than this. At the very least, TSA should have the supplies on hand to provide a replacement to anyone, from babies to the elderly, who is required to remove their protective garments as part of the screening process.

About Post Author

Greenlight

Greenlight is a writer and educator who believes in the best of humanity, but dedicates much time to studying people at their worst.
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12 years ago

It’s the law that people will be screened if they want to fly, sometimes the law is an ass.

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