There have been numerous reports of the TSA using inappropriate tactics when they have searched individuals in the security checkpoints, but they have reached a new low. Michelle Dunjan, a terminal leukemia patient from Seattle, was subjected to a humiliating security pat down in front of fellow passengers and was denied a private screening.
Dunjan decided to take an “end-of-life” trip to Hawaii to visit family and friends on last time. She is on numerous medications and is hooked up to a IV bag 24/7 due to organ failure caused by the cancer. Days before she arrived at the airport, Dunjan contacted Alaska Airlines to notify them about her medical needs and asked how to prepare for the security line.
“I did everything they asked me to do, so I didn’t think this would be an issue,” Dunjan said.
When it was her turn though the TSA checkpoint, her luggage and her IV bag registered an alert on their scanners, and they pulled her aside for a more thorough search. When Dunjan asked a private screening, the TSA officials denied the request.
“They just said that it was fine; the location we were at was fine,” she said.
Dunjan was forced to be searched in front of her fellow passengers. Michelle was asked to lift her shirt so the screeners could check under her bandages so they investigate her feeding tubes. The screeners continued their search by opening one of her saline bags, which contaminated it and had to be thrown away. Everything that these TSA screeners subjected this woman to could have put her at an even greater risk of infection.
TSA is currently investigating the incident per request from local Seattle News station, Komo.
So question Nation:
What would you have done if you were in Michelle’s position?
