A dying female cancer patient has been harassed by American officers during a full security pat-down search at a US airport, with the security forces even having her lift bandages from recent surgeries.
The 34-year-old Michigan woman, Michelle Dunaj, received a full pat-down in the security line at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington State before her departure on October 2.
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents even had her lift her shirt and pull back bandages in front of onlookers. This was all despite the fact that she had made prior arrangements with her airline about her medication and feeding tubes.
Dunaj had contacted the airline before her flight to request a wheelchair and was carrying documentation for her feeding tubes and prescriptions for all her medications, including five bags of saline solution.
"My issue is: it was in front of everyone, and everyone was looking at me like I was a criminal or like I was doing something wrong," she was quoted as saying in a Tuesday interview. "It shouldn't have been in front of everyone."
She went on to say that the US agents rejected her request for a more private inspection as a female agent demanded that Dunaj lift her shirt after feeling the tubes going into her chest and abdomen.
She further stated that another agent punctured one of her saline bags, ruining it.
Dunaj, who suffers from leukemia, also complained that after her security inspection, TSA officers told her to move along, as if she were responsible for holding up the line.
"I thought that was a little rude," she said.
There have been many instances of passenger complaints about the way TSA agents at US airports treat air travelers at security checkpoints. Inappropriate pat-downs of very small children, elderly folks and passengers with medical conditions have been among many complaints lodged against the American agency in past years.
MFB/PKH/HJL
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