TSA to Mother of Diabetic Child: Lose the Juice Box or Endure “Full Body Search”
Jeff Edwards July 04, 2017
Despite a valid medical need for a quick blood sugar rescue in the form of a juice box, one mom says that the TSA forced her into a humiliating choice in order to keep her diabetic child safe.
The mother of a 10-year-old diabetic child claims that a TSA screener at Denver International Airport (DEN) used strong-arm tactics to bully her into discarding juice boxes that she insists are a medically necessary “safety blanket” for her son. Cathy Evens said that this was the first time airport security has ever objected to her carrying the potentially life-saving juice containers on a flight.
“I feel like they made my son a security risk because he’s diabetic,” Cathy Evans told Denver ABC News affiliate KMGH. “A blood sugar low is a medical emergency and he’s had a medical emergency like that before. He’s gone into seizures and quit breathing and turned purple. So, those [juices] are our safety blanket.”
According to Evans, the TSA screener didn’t outright prohibit her from bringing her son Robby’s critically necessary juice boxes through the security line. Instead, the screener applied a little old-fashioned intimidation in the hopes of haranguing the concerned mother into leaving her child’s last line of defense from acute hypoglycemia behind.
“He got extremely close to where I was like bent over because he was leaning into me,” Evans recounted to ABC News. “And he said, ‘The only way I’m going to test these juices and let these juices pass is if you submit to a full body search and we get your luggage, we’ll take your carry-on bags, and we’re going to search every single thing you have with you. Is that what you want?’”
Evans says she later lodged a complaint with the TSA Cares Hotline for passengers with special needs. In this case, the TSA appears to share the distraught mom’s concerns about how the situation was handled.
TSA representatives not only personally met with Evans, but also promised to clarify and standardize the policy regarding the screening of medically necessary liquids nationwide.
The medical exception to the 3-1-1 liquids rule is fairly well enshrined in published TSA regulations with some caveats. “You may bring medically necessary liquids, medications and creams in excess of 3.4 ounces or 100 milliliters in your carry-on bag,” according to the agency’s own advice for passengers with special needs. “Remove them from your carry-on bag to be screened separately from the rest of your belongings.”
However, there also seems to be latitude for more invasive screening of passengers and their bags, in the event that the passenger chooses not to make exempt liquids open to more thorough screening techniques. This grey area, seems to have been the recent source of the confusion and concern at DEN.
“Inform the TSA officer if you do not want your liquid medication to be screened by X-ray or opened,” published TSA policy states. “Additional steps will be taken to clear the liquid and you will undergo additional screening procedures to include a pat-down and screening of other carry-on property.”
[Photo: Shutterstock]
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The real issue here is the TSA and their idiotic rules. Many chemists have disproven the mysterious liquid bomb that TSA is obsessed with. The shoe bomber's bomb, even if it had worked, wouldn't have taken down the airliner. The underwear bomber's bombs wouldn't have done much to the aircraft either. Likewise, TSA is worried about people replacing the batteries in laptops and electronic devices with explosives. Hello? Lithium-Ion batteries *ARE* explosive in and of themselves! Anyone with even basic electronics knowledge, a soldering iron, and 10 minutes can weaponize an innocent-looking laptop. Or you can just buy a Samsung Note 7, with the Fireball feature pre-enabled. The TSA's mandate was to "reassure the flying public." Well, with them missing 95% of weapons, groping grannies, the shoe carnival, nude-o-scopes, and taking juice from children, I'm far more terrified of the TSA than anyone with true evil intentions. Cockpit doors are reinforced, and most importantly, passengers and staff aren't willing to take sh*t from anyone now. These two things do more for airline security than anything the TSA's done.
Thank you Dsnarl for speaking up. Anyone who has ever had to deal with a child going into diabetic coma knows they are out of it and don't take direction well. If they don't care fir the other forms of glucose replacement on a good day then if they are in danger there is no way you are going to be able to get them to take something they aren't fond of in the first place. These are children not adults after all and they have an inncurrable life threatening Autoimmune disease if they have type I. It's obvious people are either ignorant or have zero heart (so much for pro life) because by the time I was in the first grade I was aware of these things. Type I is very common. This agent either had a bug up her as* or is too undereducated to be making these kinds of decisions without supervision.
@red75231 You're assuming juice is available past security. I see no reason to think that assumption is always true and for something like that you don't take a chance. Perhaps she could have carried glucose in some other form but diabetics should carry it in some form, not trust in it's availability.
There are two types of diabetics: Juvenile (type 1) and Adult Onset (Type 2). I am not going to mention Type 2, because from a travel perspective most type 2's are not children or need insulin to survive. Most Type 1 diabetics are diagnosed at a young age, and will live with injecting insulin into their bloodstream multiple times daily for the rest of their most likely shortened lives. To be fair, if blood sugar is controlled - they can live long lives. If not, then lifespan can be shortened. Insulin lowers blood sugar, and carbs raise it. A Diabetic usually will travel at a minimum with Test strips, insulin (either syringes, pens, or pumps), Glucogon, and some form of sugar to remedy low blood sugar conditions. More wealthy diabetics may have newer technology like a continuous glucose monitor. Technology is improving there. If blood sugar is too high, then kidney damage and a wide range of things occur (granted over time), and if blood sugar is too low - people enter a coma before death. If someone passes out from low blood sugar, the only remedy is a Glucogon injection which will force the body to release all forms of sugar into the bloodstream. Once injected, the person will be awake enough to hopefully make it to a hospital where they will need to be treated. If this happens on an aircraft, most likely the pilot is diverting to the nearest airport with an ambulance waiting. The reason why parents of diabetic children use Juice and not pills, chocolate, or skittles is two fold: 1. Juice is really quick at getting sugar into the bloodstream. Far faster than just about anything else, even jelly beans/sugar pills or Gel. 2. Even drowsy/low blood sugar kids will drink it. Kids only really have two things that they control. What goes into their mouths, and when they go to the bathroom. Maybe your kid isn't a picky eater, most are and diabetic sugar pills are not overly tasty. Try them. You'd pick the apple juice too. Try reasoning with a semi-comatose irrational child with low blood sugar. It's easier than force feeding your cat, but far more scary. Probably hurts less though. I travel the world with my diabetic kid. I travel with 1 or 2 containers of apple juice - depending on flight length. Usually 3oz containers, which easily fits into a 1 quart bag. Usually one container for shorter flights, and 2 for long flights (e.g. NYC-SIN) As the containers clearly have the carb count on it, so you are protecting against high and low blood sugars. Some airports have a wide range of drinks, some do not. I try to use drinks on the plane, or airport food whenever possible. Sometimes it's just not possible. I also travel with a doctor's note explaining his condition, what can and cannot go through the airport scanners. I have it translated into every language that I will expect to encounter. I allow extra time if things need to be manually checked, which is fine with me. Parents of Diabetic children are fairly robust people. We have to be, because we're usually arguing with our insurance companies every single month to get things like Insulin which our kids need to live. We also get the added bonus of checking blood sugar every few hours 24/7/365. The alternative is unthinkable. I have no idea how much this parent wanted to bring, or what their conditions were. Obviously there need to be limits that are clearly defined. It's not a new disease. By threatening to take their life supporting juice, or face punishment of a search and delay tactic - most likely to the point of missing their flight has the TSA agent acting as Judge, Jury and Executioner. In my opinion, the TSA clearly acted without knowledge of the disease or the situation. Extra training is needed too.
It''s nice to see all the self-appointed experts weigh in on what sort of care the mother should give to her child. The fact is that medically-necessary liquids are typically determined by physicians, not TSA or random internet commentators. TSA explicitly allows medically-necessary liquids, in quantites higher than the standard 3.4oz. Forcing someone carrying medically-necessary liquids to undergo a full search is ridiculous and discriminatory.