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Airport security: TSA endangers sick teen's life
An ill Orlando teenager was thwarted in the screening line of Orlando International Airport a few weeks ago, when security workers for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) insisted on inspecting a back-up feeding tube he carries with him in a sealed, clear sterilized plastic bag.James Hoyne, 14, has a feeding tube in his stomach and always has a second one in reserve, if he needs it. Orlando television station WFTV reports that a TSA officer opened the back-up tube to inspect it, over the teen's objections, thus contaminating the feeding tube that Hoyne said he turned out to later need.
Hoyne recounted his conversation with the screener for WFTV: "I said, 'Please don't open it' and she said, 'I have to open it whether you like it or not. If I can't open it, I can't let you on the plane'."
The television station reports that the TSA has apologized to the boy and is opening an investigation as to what could have been done to avoid the incident.
The gut answer, of course: use common sense. But in reality, the screener, no matter how nonsensical, was doing her job.
Still, it would seem that even if the screener had the most rudimentary understanding of the TSA's list of prohibited items, it would have been easy for her to conclude that the boy's spare feeding tube -- sans liquid, mind you -- certainly qualified for acceptance under the TSA's allowed "special needs devices," or, as the administration says, "Items used to augment the body for medical or cosmetic reasons."
But security officers are, if nothing else, a very literal lot. Theirs is not the business of judgment calls. I'm guessing the TSA will now need to go in and specifically put 'feeding tubes' on the approved list to prevent such an incident from happening again.
Have you had any run-ins with the TSA lately? Let us know in the comments section below.
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What strange things have been found on planes?
Click the image to read the bizarre story...
Filed under: Transportation, Airports, Travel Health, Consumer Activism
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Deana Mar 7th 2008 12:57PM
We travel often with our special needs child. He has 6 medications, including injectable liquids, needles, and white powder medicines that must be measured on a small scale.
We carry all of these things on our person, along with the most important piece of travel accompaniment, an official letter from his doctors. We've never been questioned, even making 3 trips to and from London in the past year.
What that TSA employee did is awful! This is exactly why we travel with double everything for our son in checked luggage, as we carry on board. Anyone who has special circumstances should call ahead, make their special needs known every step of the way, and carry a letter from their doctors. Yes it's pain, but can save a lot of trouble in the long-run
Jeff White Mar 8th 2008 5:56AM
Deana:
Good points, all of them. Thanks for reading!
Bobby G Mar 9th 2008 1:12PM
TSA employees are NOT well trained. They obviously don't have PRE-SCREENING STANDARDS in place such as the U.S. Post Office does. I hear stories of people getting their friends and relatives a job easily at TSA for the sole purpose of collecting paychecks while finding ways to steal passenger belongings. Seriously, you can take one look at half of the TSA employees and they just LOOK stupid to begin with. It scares the heck out of me to fly these days because I don't feel the right people are being utilized for our protection. It's all low lifes. Has anyone ever seen an ad in the paper for TSA screeners wanted? Where are they pulling their resources from? Why is it such a secret?
David Mar 7th 2008 3:07PM
The spare tube came in a clear bag, so what would be the need to open it? I would think that even if they did the "swab" test they could do without opening.
bob Mar 9th 2008 7:44AM
You get what you pay for. Plus more and more employes are not allowed to use common sense anymore, they have to go BY THE RULES.
vlynnieg Mar 9th 2008 8:04AM
Items such as these are CLEARLY marked 'sterile'. She should have simply looked through the clear plastic, checked that the packaging was untampered with, and stopped at that. TSA should compensate the boy for the now unusable feeding tube, and better train their screeners. Perhaps get more intelligent screeners, but that would be asking too much.
julie Mar 9th 2008 10:35AM
Did the kid say STOP its a medical device? Or STOP its a feeding tube and has to be sterile?? ASK for a supervisor?? before the agent opened the bag. I promise they would have found another solution. I`m sick and tired of people ragging on the TSA for inspecting unusual things. The issue with terrorists is that they spend alot of time and effort creating bombs that don`t look like bombs. Remember Richard Reid? Apparently not, he`s the 1st (not last) guy with a shoe bomb. (its why you have to take of your shoes to be xrayed) If you want to fly you need to understand that there are still bad guys out there. So, if you have an unusual device, especially something that requires special care, let an agent know in a timely fashion. These are regular Americans trying to make YOUR flight safe.
larry Mar 9th 2008 8:22AM
First you knock the security guard for taking extra precautions with the lives of the other hundred or so passengers, how were they suppose to know what was in there? and why didn't the kid check his bags? people with "questionable" items should do this, BUT!!! later down your column, there's an article slammin airport security for MISSING and "explosive device". GOOD GRIEF CHARLIE BROWN, give up journalism would ya!!!
Jennifer Lewis Mar 9th 2008 9:58AM
Larry..I don't know if you are the perfect person but being military I travel a lot. I also have a heart condition that allows me certain items that most people are no longer allowed to carry on aircraft for security reasons. I am also in the medical field and there was no reason for that person to open that bag. And as for "checking" his bags, what if he needed the tube on the flight? Did you think of that...hence why the had a spare tube to begin with. Instead of making things more difficult for the boy, she should have called her supervisor over and let him decide what to do. I have had smart TSA people do so with my checked luggage when something isn't specifically told to them in the Rules they have to follow. But other TSA personnel think they are God and what they, as an individual, says goes and nobody calls them on it because they don't want to risk problems. If you think they need to train their people better than stand up when they are doing something to you they shouldn't. Yes they are there to try and protect people but let's face it, a lot of those people holding those jobs just want a pay check. So don't hard Larry on people complaining because they had problems. "We" are just saying they need to get it right across the board. It's not like they are a new organization or anything.
HELLOOOOOOOOOOO Mar 9th 2008 11:41AM
First, ALL medical devices in original packaging sat what they are. The TSA Screeners are poorly trained and Yes, MANY have been fired for being illegal immigrants, which asks 2 questions. 1) WHo is the bozo doing the hiring, and 20 Who is the Chief BOZO training them.
The screener was WRONG pure and simple.
Now as for checking his ONLY spare tube in luggage, has anyone ever heard of the airlines losing bags??? Some medical devices are very specialized and not carried at all hospitals, or pharmacies. This includes feeding tubes.
montee Mar 9th 2008 8:33AM
There's a difference between allowing items and inspecting them. The screener has a valid reason no matter how obviously safe (unthreatening) the device might be. I also think people with disabilities should really plan ahead when traveling. Furthermore they should only be traveling when its absolutely necessary.
Andi Mar 9th 2008 8:52AM
So now people with disabilities should not be allowed to fly with the rest of humanity? Not allowed to go on what could be their last vacation? Jeezus, the package would have been marked sterile and you say the kid needs to "plan further ahead?" Not to mention that there more than likely could NOT be enough room in the tube to hold anything that would blow up.
seocom Mar 9th 2008 8:39AM
The whole world has gone crazy. There is no such thing as common sense anymore. TSA and Homeland Security are just a bunch of overblown zealots that have to justify their jobs with bogeymen around every corner...
Wish Belkin Mar 9th 2008 8:47AM
In the northeast, the Boarder Patrol is questioning passengers and searching luggage on buses and trains that don't cross any boarders. This, while a bazillion illegals cross our boarders every year.
Andrew Mar 9th 2008 8:46AM
Pay peanuts - get monkeys. Why do we put the safety of people in the hands of underpaid morons?
andy Mar 9th 2008 7:33PM
She was "just doing her job?!" That is total b.s. when you consider there are lists of what is/isn't approved. Seems like that screener needs to be FIRED for not paying attention during training and possibly endangering that kid's life.
Why is no one holding TSA accountable? Congress, why are you worrying about steroids and not stuff like this?
Kathy Mar 9th 2008 9:28AM
So many people lack common sense or just don't turn on their brains,
and it's scary when they work for "homeland" security - and isn't
that a nice moniker, just like Nazi Germany!
I work with special needs kids and a couple of them have feeding
tubes. It's obvious these tubes are sterile, and they're light and
packaged in clear plastic - so what is the problem? Are they
harassing chemo patients, who also have feeding tubes? What's next,
a search of their installed tube? This is beyond belief.
FilthyFletch Mar 9th 2008 9:31AM
its a messed up thing and dont say "Well Bush..." as thats nothing to do with it.My fiancee who has now had 2 kindney transplants was denied her dialysis machine and manula mediction during the clinton years.They wanted to confiscate the $45 gran machine even though it had medical clearence to be shiped and then they opened and drained her need solution bags when they were in the shipping area.Pretty much almost killed her so by the time we got to Vegas and found out as it was time to get hooked up they had drianed the bags and put a hold on her life machine so we had to leave find a hospital get her setup and then I had to go to fight for her machine so she could live..Nice jobs our well trained security is doing.Thumbs up to the dipshits
elaine Mar 9th 2008 9:38AM
My husband works on heart lung machines and flies a lot on emergency calls. As you can guess the digital boards to run them are extremely expensive. They come in sealed, static free, packs and start at $10,000. He carries them with him to be sure they don't get damaged/lost in the checked bags. One TSA clown he ran into simply pulled open the clear bag through which you could see the digital board, despite my husbands concerns, information, etc. The guy had absolutely NO CLUE what he was looking at. $10,000 down the drain. What you have are $8/hour employees with a ton of power, and very little common sense.
Julie Mar 9th 2008 10:42AM
Elaine,
Little common sense? The easiest bomb to make, no secret, the terrorists know this, starts with a computor or circuit board. Add a FEW items from the hardware store and you can blow up a plane. Your husband should be glad he travels in the US where, as a result of all your public whining, you can still carry on such electronics.