A Nightmare for Prosthetic Users: Sharon Kiss, Marlene McCarthy, Musa Mayers, and Cathy Bossi

For Americans who wear prosthetics — either because they are cancer survivors or have lost a limb — or who have undergone hip replacements or have a pacemaker, the humiliation of the TSA's new security procedures — choosing between a body scan or body search — can be a real nightmare.


SHARON KISS - MENDOCINO, CA:

Sharon Kiss, 66, has a pacemaker, but also has to fly often for her work.
"During a recent enhanced pat-down, a screener cupped my breasts and felt my genitals," she said in an e-mail to msnbc.com "To 'clear my waistband' she put her hands down my pants and groped for the waistband of my underwear.

"I expressed humiliation and was told 'You have the choice not to fly.' "

The remark infuriated Kiss, who lives in Mendocino, Calif. "Extrapolate this to we should not provide curb cuts and ramps for people confined to wheelchairs because they can choose to stay home ... This a violation of civil rights. And because I have a disability, I should not be subjected to what is government-sanctioned sexual assault in order to board a plane."


MARLENE MC CARTHY - RHODE ISLAND:

Marlene McCarthy of Rhode Island said she went through the body scanner and was told by a TSA agent to step aside. In "full view of everyone," McCarthy said in an e-mail, the agent "immediately put the back of her hand on my right side chest and I explained I wore a prosthesis.

"Then, she put her full hands ... one on top and one on the bottom of my 'breast' and moved the prosthesis left, right, up, down and said 'OK.' I was so humiliated.

"I went to the desk area and complained," McCarthy wrote. "The woman there was very nice and I asked her if the training included an understanding of how prosthetics are captured on the scanner and told her the pat-down is embarrassing. She said, 'We have never even had that discussion and I do the training for the TSA employees here, following the standard manual provided.' She said she will bring it up at their next meeting."

If she has to go through the scanner again, McCarthy said, "I am determined to put the prosthesis in the gray bucket," provided to travelers at the security check-ins for items such as jewelry. "Let the TSA scanners be embarrassed .... not me anymore!" she wrote.


MUSA MAYER:

Musa Mayer has worn a breast prosthesis for 21 years since her mastectomy and is used to the alarms it sets off at airport security. But nothing prepared her for the "invasive and embarrassing" experience of being patted down, poked and examined recently while passing through airport security at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C.

Here are a few more details regarding her story:

”In response to a request from Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News last evening, I wrote the following report of a recent airport security experience I found very disturbing. I have already complained to the Transportation Security Administration about this incident. I wonder if any of you have ideas about what else could be done. In the early morning of November 6, 2010, I arrived at Dulles Airport in DC for JetBlue flight 1304 to JFK, where I was to meet my family and fly on to Florida for a cruise. I had been in suburban Washington teaching fellow breast cancer advocates at a science training seminar run by the National Breast Cancer Coalition. After checking in, I went to security, where I was instructed to enter a full body scanner. It was my first time in one of these machines. It was immediately clear that there was a problem. I was taken aside, to an unused security line, with a male and female security officer carrying over the bins which held my possessions. The male officer searched my bag and purse, and I was patted down and examined by the female officer. A few feet away, people on the security line I’d just left began staring curiously at me. The female officer then told me she was going to examine my chest area, and touch me directly with her fingers, not with the backs of her hands. She felt all around and between my breasts. As I was in a public area, standing with my arms outstretched, in full view of other passengers passing through security, this felt invasive and embarrassing. By then, as a breast cancer survivor, I had a pretty good idea of what was going on: the body scanner had seen the breast prosthesis I've worn for 21 years since my mastectomy, and had sounded some sort of alarm. I was then asked to wait while they called a female supervisor, who took at least 15 minutes to come from another part of the terminal. When she finally did arrive, I was escorted some distance away, still barefoot, to an enclosed area that was obviously being used to store construction tools and materials--the whole area was very dirty and my socks were by then filthy. In this area my breasts were again examined by this supervisor. I finally said to her: "Look, I'm wearing a prosthesis, do you need to see it?" She said yes, and I unbuttoned my blouse enough to lift my bra and show her the edge of my prosthesis. By then I was feeling quite humiliated by the whole process, and had spent over 45 minutes in security. I was determined not to undress for them, or take out my prosthesis and show it to them. I asked the supervisor if she realized that there are three million women who have had breast cancer in the US, many of whom wear breast prostheses. Will each of us now have to undergo this humiliating, time-consuming routine every time we pass through one of these new body scanners? Of course, she had no answer for me. Finally, after nearly an hour, I was allowed to go to my gate, where fortunately my flight had not yet departed. Thinking back on the incident, I am outraged that I will now be forced to show my prosthesis to strangers, remove it and put in the x-ray bin for screening, or not wear it at all whenever I fly. To me, this seems unfairly discriminatory and embarrassing for me, and for all breast cancer survivors.”


CATHY BOSSI - CHARLOTTE, N.C.:

Cathy Bossi from Charlotte, N.C. is a longtime flight attendant and cancer survivor. She told a local television station that she was forced to show her prosthetic breast during a pat-down.

Cathy, who works for U.S. Airways, said she received the pat-down after declining to do the full-body scan because of radiation concerns. The TSA screener "put her full hand on my breast and said, 'What is this?' " Bossi told the station. "And I said, 'It's my prosthesis because I've had breast cancer.' And she said, 'Well, you'll need to show me that.' "

Bossi said she removed the prosthetic from her bra. She did not take the name of the agent, she said, "because it was just so horrific of an experience, I couldn't believe someone had done that to me. I'm a flight attendant. I was just trying to get to work."