Report: TSA refuses to pat down leukemia patient in private

The Transportation Security Administration is being accused of ignoring the request of a passenger who suffers from leukemia to be patted down in private at a Seattle airport.

Washington state resident Michelle Dunaj told Seattle media outlets that TSA employees at the Seattle–Tacoma International Airport removed bandages holding feeding tubes and opened a saline bag she was carrying, according to a report on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s website.

Dunaj told the paper that she asked to be inspected in a private area, but her request was denied by the Seattle TSA employees.

"They just said that it was fine; the location we were at was fine," Dunaj said, according to the website.

Dunaj said she checked with the airline she was flying with, Alaska Airlines, about her medications before she went to the airport to catch her flight.

"I did everything they asked me to do, so I didn't think it would be an issue," she said.

Dunaj said she would have liked the TSA officials to have taken into consideration the condition of health.

"When somebody wants to take a trip, especially what I call an 'end-of-life trip' because you want to see your family and friends, then it becomes more important than just taking a trip," she said.

A spokeswoman for TSA told the newspaper its employees “are trained to perform pat-downs in a dignified manner, and at any point, passengers can request a private screening with a witness present."

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