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TSA To Grandma: Get Naked And Show Us Your Colostomy Bag
By
Garth Johnston
Published Dec 5, 2011
Modified Dec 5, 2011
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WCBS
By
Garth Johnston
Published Dec 5, 2011
Modified Dec 5, 2011
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Seems like somebody at the TSA had some issues to work out with Grandma over Thanksgiving. After this weekend's revelations regarding an 85-year-old woman being strip searched, a second elderly woman has come forward saying that she was stripped by agents at the JetBlue terminal at JFK after the holiday—in this case so that they could examine the 88-year-old's colostomy bag. Which, if you've ever known someone who had one, is an embarrassing thing to have to whip out for strangers. Even in a private room.
"This is private for me. It's bad enough that I have it," 88-year-old Ruth Sherman told WCBS News of the ostomy pouch attached to her side. "I had to pull from my sweatpants and I had to pull my underwear, my underwear down. You don't do that anybody. I felt like I was invaded."
Sherman was returning to Sunrise, Florida, on November 28 when TSA screeners pulled her aside to check the bulge on her belly. She initially complained to JetBlue and her family but only decided to complain about it publicly after hearing about the similar searching of Lenore Zimmerman on November 29.
The TSA has apologized for the incident with Zimmerman (though it disputes the way she says things occurred) and says that it is now researching Sherman's case.
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