TSA strikes again, Los Angeles International!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/01/insulin-pump-lax-airport-security.html

TSA mistakes insulin pump for gun, causing LAX security scare
January 27, 2012 | 10:51 am

An insulin pump mistaken for a gun at LAX led officials to delay boarding and screening Friday morning at Terminal 4 as airport authorities searched for a woman who they thought had a weapon, law enforcement sources said.

The incident occurred around 7:30 a.m. as the female passenger was being screened at Los Angeles International Airport. She went through electronic screening, which detected an item shaped like a weapon, the sources said.

But before screeners could search her, she walked away toward the boarding gates. Concerned Transportation Security Administration officials immediately alerted LAX police and the LAPD of a possible security breach.

Sources familiar with the incident said security staff scrambled to determine what happened but eventually realized the "weapon" was actually a medical device.

The woman was briefly detained and questioned. Authorities delayed some passengers boarding for up to an hour, according to sources.

TSA = Thousands Standing Around

LOL Mike!

I'm actually less concerned that the pump was mistaken for a weapon. I'm concerned that if it had been a gun, she was able to leave the security area without being further checked out.

i thought one's not supposed to go through the screening with their pump on? Just on MDI's, I always tell someone when flying, I'm a type diabetic and have supplies, syringes, etc... Shouldn't she have at least told someone she had a pump?

TSA = Thousands Standing Around.

Established by the Federal Government to foil terrorists on our nation's airline industry, the TSA has never once foiled a terrorist plot, found a terrorist or stopped something catastrophic from happening our airliners. What they haven't done is infiltrated any ground transportation industries, such as train and bus travel.

I don't know how anyone in their correct state of mind, including TSA workers, can mistake an insulin pump for a gun. An insulin pump, if doing its intended task, is connected directly to the body of its owner. Why would anyone want to connect a gun to their body? The last time I looked at an insulin pump, it was squarish, had no hammer or visible barrel and certainly no ammunition. (Although we do use terms of weaponry to describe insulin administration.) It seem to me that if it looks like an insulin pump, feels like an insulin pump, and functions like an insulin pump; it must be an insulin pump.

Do not they train these people? Animas tells me that my pump should not be x-rayed. If I were ever to fly, I would be subject to pat down, someone's manipulation of my pump and my personal privacy could be violated. The TSA is a giant feel-good governmental waste of money. If the government needs to save money, the TSA is a shining example of an expense that our country doesn't need.

TSA = Thousands Standing Around. Love that. How true.

Not about security because you're right TSA has never averted anything. It is about instituting a police state for our citizens.

How does one mistake an insulin pump for a gun. Not even close.

I'm in Los Angeles for the weekend, and it was quite amusing to go back through the terminal looking at the TSA personnel standing around. I wanted to say something snarky to one of them but thought better of it...

Still, LAX's processing is far better than Denver's; I've never seen so many buffoons in one place (Denver). And it never fails that I get pulled aside for carrying juice. This time I got smarter and carried only glucose gel and liquid, but still got pulled over.

You are absolutely correct. She should have declared her pump. Every bit of literature that comes with your pump says so. I am not defending TSA in the least, they are known idiots but yes she should have told the agent she was wearing a pump.

Just flew from Philadelphia to Albuquerque and back while on MDI carrying a cpap and sandwiches and empty water bottles (filled after clearing security) in April 2012 without declaring anything medical but prepared to do so. Had no security hassles. The only real hassles I had was ensuring I had meds to cover various contingencies.

After reading through some of the comments on this article, it looks like she didn't do anything wrong. A woman who claims to know the girl with the insulin pump says that she announced she had the pump on, was told 3 times that she was cleared to go, but one of the TSA agents didn't check for explosives even though she told the girl she could go. That is what they were missing. Seems like this story is almost completely false, at least in the way it was reported. If it happened like the woman in the comments says it happened (which is what I am far, far, far more likely to believe because it sounds exactly like most of my experiences at airport security), then this is completely and totally a TSA mistake though and through.