Prosthesis and Airport Security
Posted 10/29/2009
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This is a very distressing note that I received from a friend who had a mastectomy without reconstruction, has been using a breast prosthesis for many years. I have no idea if this will be a regular event for those of us in this situaiton, but, if so, it is definitely better to be forewarned.
I was flying home to Memphis from Indianapolis yesterday and I was one of the lucky passengers to be randomly picked to go through one of those new "see all" x-ray machines that some airports have. So the machine picked up a non-natural object in the breast area of my body. Therefore, I had to be frisked by a female security agent who asked me if I was wearing anything. After I admitted to having prosthesis, she had the wonderful opportunity play with my prosthesis while I was wearing it. When I made my displeasure known, it was explained to me that terrorists can wear a gel filled prosthesis that is actually a bomb. And you may wonder how this relates to the mozzarella cheese that I was carrying with me. Well, the regular x-ray machine did not like the looks of my packages of cheese so they had to be specially wiped by a security agent. One of my packages failed the swipe test and set off an alarm. It had to go back through the x-ray machine. All in the name of security. Seriously, I was really offended by my experience. I feel as if my civil rights were violated and felt terribly exposed. I am 9 and ½ years past my surgery.
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