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Airport Scanner Breaks Teen's Insulin Pump

She was told to get scanned despite note from doctor

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted May 8, 2012 11:29 PM CDT | Updated May 9, 2012 4:15 AM CDT

(Newser) – TSA agents forced a Denver teen to go to through a full-body scanner, which broke her $10,000 insulin pump, according to the girl. Savannah Barry, 16, says she approached agents with a letter from her doctor, and told them about the pump, but she was told to go through the scanner anyway, MSNBC reports. After the screening, Barry felt something was wrong, and called her mother, who contacted the pump's maker and was told the teen needed to take the pump off as soon as she landed because scanners can damage the device's software, interfering with insulin delivery.

Barry, who had to transition to insulin shots as soon as the flight was over, says her request for a pat-down instead of a scan was refused, but she was patted down anyway after the scan because she was carrying fruit juice to control her blood sugar levels. A staff attorney for the American Diabetic Association says they have had issues with TSA screening for years, and that cases like Barry's "aren't isolated incidences. They are occurring across the country, and we think that a way of ending that is to have better training by TSA," she tells ABC 7.

Insulin pump makers say full-body scanners can damage software in the devices.
Insulin pump makers say full-body scanners can damage software in the devices.   (AP Photo/Medtronics Daibetes)
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TSA especially needs to be educated because my life is pretty much in their hands when I walk through a body scan with my insulin pump on. - Savannah Barry

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 39 comments
Videogamert555
May 29, 2012 6:53 PM CDT
I have not seen one person on here who's comment has any scientific knowledge. But I have learned quite a bit about science and technology including electronics and electromagnetic radiation etc, so I think maybe I can sort this out for you guys. First of all, millimeter waves are at the very border between microwaves (the highest frequency range of radio waves) and infrared rays (on the border, NOT fully in the radiowave side of the border, and that border is kind of fuzzy, and that fuzzy area is the millimeter range). Consider this, the higher the frequency (shorter wavelength), the less penetrating power that the wave has, up to UV-D, as UV-D will be blocked by air even (then the opposite becomes true, that higher frequencies have more penetrating power like x-rays and gamma-rays). Millimeter waves wouldn't get through so much as a sheet of aluminum foil. It is VERY EASY to block millimeter waves. It is even easier than blocking the waves from a satellite TV signal. Satellite TV signals are about 10ghz and are blocked completely by walls of a house, which is why you need an outside satellite dish to receive the signal (not an indoor satellite dish). Any properly shielded medical device will have either a metal case, or a plastic case with its inside coated with metal foil. While pacemaker users are warned in the instruction manual of a microwave oven to not operate the device (which is because in the event of failure of the shielding of the oven, a MASSIVE microwave burst would instantly fry the pacemaker's circuits), there is NO WARNING in the manuals of cellphones about not using it if you have a pacemaker. Why is this? It is because the signal strength of the cellphone (which is WEAK compared to that of your microwave oven's magnetron) combined with the fact that pace makers have a metallic shield to block radio waves will easily block the signal from a cellphone. The reason cellphones aren't allowed in hospitals is that not all of their equipment is properly shielded, but devices intended to be used in the general environment outside a hospital are REQUIRED to meet rigorous tests to be sure they can not fail from exposure to radio and microwave frequency signals (as much modern communication equipment uses such signals in these frequency ranges). Now consider the fact that the mm-wave scanner output itself is several times WEAKER than a cellphone, and that the frequency range these devices operate in are much higher than a cellphone (1000ghz instead of 0.8ghz) which means much less penetrating power (consider that they are COMPLETELY reflected by ordinary human skin, or the scanners wouldn't work), and you should realize that the chance that a medical device was damaged is VERY unlikely. And don't say "oh but this isn't a pacemaker", because ANY medical device that is of critical importance to matters of life and death, and that is intended to be operated outside a hospital, MUST MEET certain standards. So either the company that made the insulin pump failed to make a safe medical device properly shielded from even the weakest of RF interference and should be sued, or the device malfunctioned for an unknow reason (glitch in the software or running it or something) and it just corresponded to a time shortly after the scan by coincidence (correlation but not causation) which would still mean that the company failed to make a safe medical device. In either case it is clear that it is the company that made the insulin pump that should be held legally liable in any lawsuit this girl or her family intends to pursue, as it the medical equipment manufacturer's pump that failed to meet the legally required reliability and safety standards for such a device, and thus the company who manufactured it was negligent in the engineering and designing of the device and not properly testing it to make sure that it actually met the standards required for such devices.
Cindy73
May 12, 2012 5:21 PM CDT
I recently flew for the first time and was told to leave my pump on when going through the scanner. This action damaged the programming of my insulin pump and I soon began to feel ill after the flight. Not knowing there was an issue and being away from home I just dealt with feeling ill, I then went through the scanner again on the return trip. After returning home I progressively got worse and went to the hospital. There I was accused of administering insulin and deleting it from the pump, as a result they threatened to put me in the psych ward for trying to kill myself. After a long battle my pump was taken from me and tested. They found that its programing and calibration was messed up and I was placed in the ICU do to almost dyeing from insulin shock.   I have been informed by the insulin pump manufacturer that the scanners and x-ray machines are known to cause problems and they have been fighting with them over it.   I have contacted TSA and advised them of the situation and hope they do something.
slammer
May 10, 2012 8:54 PM CDT
GOOD OL TSA INSULIN AND FRUIT JUICE! WOW SHE COULD HAVE BROUGHT THE PLANE DOWN AND IT WAS IN A PUMP TO BOOT WOW I SURE FEEL SAFER NOW! HOPE SHE SUES THE HELL OUT OF THEM AND WINS BIG BIG TIME! IF SHE WERE NOT PREPAIRED AS WELL AS SHE WAS THEY COULD HAVE KILLED HER!  BAD BAD TSA!
 

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