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TSA Agents Make Granny Lift Shirt To Show Her Gastric Tube And Say "Ugh!" In Response
By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 20, 2012
Modified Jul 20, 2012
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 20, 2012
Modified Jul 20, 2012
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A Fort Worth grandmother who was traveling to Minnesota for treatment at the Mayo Clinic says TSA agents at Dallas Love Field humiliated her during a pat-down. Melinda Deaton has a four-inch medical tube sticking out of her stomach that was implanted following complications from gastric bypass surgery. Deaton says TSA agents pulled her aside for a pat-down after noticing the protuberance, and forced her to lift up her shirt to show the tube. And it didn't end there.
Although Deaton was wearing a medical bracelet with a USB drive on it that contained notes from her doctor, TSA agents insisted on a thorough search. Her husband John Deaton tells NBC, "They had physically stripped her and saw the tube coming out of her stomach, and they decided that they needed to check it for explosives, so they had to physically handle the tube." That meant swabbing it to test whether the elderly Texas woman had left any bomb-making residue on the gastric tube.
But Deaton has an extremely weak immune system, and her husband says, "Any time you put a harsh substance on it, you run the risk of contamination. They put stuff on there that we don't know what it is and identify. She has a weak immune system as part of her medical condition, and it can be very fatal to her."
Adding insult to possibly fatal injury, Deaton says that when she showed the TSA agents the tube, which was implanted to flush toxins from her body, they reacted with disgust. "When I pulled my shirt out and they catch a glimpse of it, they both go, 'Ugh!'" Deaton tells a local Dallas TV station. "I said, 'Thank you for your professionalism.'" They also threw out her containers filled with applesauce and pudding, which she had with her because she can only eat soft foods. (After she complained, a supervisor retrieved her food from the trash.)
Deaton has filed a formal complaint with the TSA over her treatment, and the TSA issued this statement in response:
The TSA's mission is to safely, efficiently and respectfully screen nearly 2 million passengers each day at airports nationwide. We are sensitive to the concerns of passengers and we invite those individuals to provide feedback to TSA through a variety of channels.
In this specific incident, an investigation was initiated and it was determined that the Transportation Security Officer (TSO) followed standard operating procedures conducted in the presence of a Supervisor TSO. We take the professionalism of our workforce and the integrity of our security procedures very seriously and will address any alleged issues directly with the passenger.
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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