Oh god, here we go again with 'taking it seriously'

Wait wait wait...taking off the brace and making her stand on her foot turned a sprain into a fracture?

Huh?

I don't think so.

But I don't doubt for a minute that there was security douchebaggery involved.

@backbroken: It sounds far fetched...but too far fetched to make up, considering they can check security video.

@backbroken: I agree that sounds fishy.

Perhaps there was a small fracture to begin with and standing on one leg made it worse?

@AlteredBeast: Not too farfetched to make up if you are interested in a law suit. Wouldn't be the first person to make up a stupid story to get some money.

@backbroken: far fetched or not, it's the fact that we have yet another example of the TSA not following their own procedures.

Even if that wouldn't cause a fracture, it could obviously cause a person a lot of pain as common sense should have dictated to the TSA idiot.

@AlteredBeast: I don't think the security tape is going to show the bone actually fracturing. Unless they have some kind of special super zoom x-ray security camera.

(Excuse me for a minute while I go draw up a patent application for my super zoom x-ray security camera.)

nice, I love the part "Right now they're trying to figure out if there is any video of the incident and figure out who was working that shift that day."

I'm sure that will be lost in the process of admitting they broke her damn ankle/under the table settlement.

/golfclap america, /golfclap

@alexburrito: People have gotten caught on grocery store cameras faking spills, but who doesn't know that airports are full of cameras?

Not too far fetched but the lady would have to be dumber than dirt to have made this up.

@backbroken: Very fishy indeed.

There's definite douchebaggery going on. Hell, it's the TSA -- what more could you expect?

A sprain turning into a fracture? Pretty much impossible since one is an injury to ligaments and the other is to bones.

If she's looking for money, her better bet's going to be on whatever radiologist missed that fracture while looking at her films.

@backbroken:

It's entirely possible. We had a patient this last month, where I nurse, that had a fractured femur from a fall. It was a just a fracture to begin with, and just walking on it caused it to become unaligned. It's not really far fetched at all. It sounds like the woman is a layperson, and is just relaying information as the doctor explained it.

@backbroken: No. The woman doesn't say the TSA fractured her foot.

1. Sprain
2. TSA made her take off brace
3. It hurt
4. New test results show she has fracture

Nowhere does she say standing on the foot directly fractured it.

@Real Cheese Flavor: It's also possible that she has a sprain AND a fracture.

@backbroken: At the very least, you could see the events happening as desribed, her with the brace and security insisting that it be removed. I doubt she went home and broke her ankel on her own to cash in.

@Evil_Otto: That's possible. It still doesn't change the fact that one injury can't turn into another and that the underlying cause for this in all likelihood is a misdiagnosis.

I've known a couple of people who had a bad sprain that also involved a bone chip (ligaments connect bone to bone, and as I recall if a sprain is bad enough, the ligament can pull a chunk of bone off the ankle or something). So that could be what happened in this woman's case-- she had the sprain, and the strain of the standing on it was the final straw and affected the bone?

Regardless, if the TSA told me to put my full body weight on a sprained ankle, I'd say no!! I know the imperative to get to your plane on time is great, but not enough to be put into serious pain...

There are small bone in the foot that can be easily fractured if you step on them in an abnormal way. Add to that age (im not sure how old she is but she doesnt look like a teenager) and bones get weaker. Its not hard to understand that if your ankle was sprained and you put all your weight on it you might twist your foot in an unusuall way, causing a fracture, making a fracture worse, or making the existing sprain worse. By the way sprains are usually far worse than breaks, breaks generally heal and its over, sprains can cause life long damage. She should be able to sue just for them making her stand on a sprained ankle.

@formergr:

I fully agree. I guess in this brave, new world order people must comply with government officials or be denied the most basic of freedoms. Common sense would have dictated not to place her ankle in jeopardy even though it would deny her the flight.

@Sabbadeus: You know I never noticed how much companies used that term until Consumerist began highlighting it.

Now it's like the corporate equivalent of "I'll get right on that".

Yes... they're taking it very 'seriously' aren't they?

I'm guessing there will be a post on the TSA blog soon enough- and the PR spin machine will be running turbo on this one. Stealing stuff is one thing, actually injuring people...

I don't know if standing on her foot turned a sprain into a fracture but I do know that TSA agents will make you take your brace off. I flew from NY to Columbus while recovering from a broken wrist and at Newark, they were quite adamant and rude that I take my brace off. They only swabbed it in Columbus.

It's also possible that she had a sprain and a fracture and a bomb disguised as a leg brace.

And a message from Elvis.

TSA: hey is that a neck brace? this is a random security check, we just need you to take that off and stand on your head.
Guy: surely you must be joking?
TSA: ok then, I guess you won't catch your flight

TSA: is that a cast on your leg? we are doing a random security check, we need to take off the cast for manual inspection
Guy: how am I going to get it back on afterward?
TSA: oh you won't be able to I guess you'll need to pay to have it done all over again once you get to your destination

TSA: hey buddy, you know the rules, no oxygen tanks.
Old Lady: I need this to breathe
TSA: sorry you know the rules - no pressurized tanks past this point, you could have deadly nerve gas in there!

TSA: random security check!
guy: what?
TSA: you heard me, let's go to this room over here...
guy: fine...
TSA: ok boys, get his pants off
guy: aaah!
TSA: now normally we would go in to your ass manually but we're going to test out this electrified retractable baton. it's supposed to force your bowels to empty themselves so we can see if you were trying to smuggle any drugs inside of swallowed condoms
guy: that's horribly indignified and embarrassing, isn't there a painless x ray machine you could just pass me throu-- AAAAH! AAAAAAAAAH!!!! AAAAA! OH GOD AAA!H111!1!1

@fisherstudios: It was 100% totally believable up until the last part about "we would go into your ass manually"!

Is this normal practice to ask someone being screened to stand on one foot? Are they double-checking the injury Brady-Bunch-Briefcase style, or checking the soles of her feet for booby traps? Terrorists are known for their poor balance?

I don't get why she couldn't sit down, take the brace off, go through a few inspections, routine or not, then replace/redress and be set right. It's such an outlandish story that I'm not surprised the TSA has gone immediately into investigation mode instead of defensive mode, like they're suspecting this is a sham by the accuser instead of just assuming they screwed up.

I'm not surprised if the TSA made her take off her brace. I needed to have some knee surgery done and had both a brace and crutches so I wouldn't damage it further as I got to the checkpoint the TSA asked me to walk through the metal detector without either of them. I gave him a funny look only to then be asked if I could walk without them. I responded something along the lines of if I could walk without them why would I be using them? This got me a chair and they scanned me with a hand held and I was allowed to go on my way. I think the more we question them the easier they'll be as they don't want to look idiotic when they don't have an answer.

Once again we here a lady making claims looking for loot! I go through the airports weekly and my bet is this lady is not even close to giving the full story. Wheres Gloria Alred she needs her fifteen minutes like the last one she took the case on and when the facts came out she was gone baby gone. Ohh yeah that apology cured here desire for a Class Action Suit, Yeah Right!
The chance this lady fractured her ankle is slim except for one thing. Take a look at her she is what 60-70 years old? Suprised she did not break her hip supposedly standing on one leg and balancing.

@formergr: My mother-in-law takes care of a lady that has fairly severe muscular dystrophy. Most of the time she gets around with a walker, but it's an arduous, slow process. Her feet are also extremely swollen and misshapen. Putting shoes on literally takes her 30 minutes. The last time she was at the airport (she was flying out to see her family) TSA made her remove her shoes, and refused to let my mother-in-law help her. Needless to say, she missed her plane. The process was so trying, she never did make it to see her family. So, TSA single-handedly stopped a poor old crippled lady from flying to see her family because she might have been a threat.

I will not fly again if I have to depart from or arrive at a US airport until the TSA stops STEALING from travelers. This includes stealing time, belongings, and dignity. I have seen far too many of these kinds of stories. It's no longer worth it.

What the TSA says they're suppose to do and what they support are two very different things when pusch comes to shove. They'll have a written policy but, if one of their agents strays from that policy and you call them on it, they'll hide behind the statement that TSA agents can, at their discreation, deviate from the written policy if they believe the safety and welfare of the public is at risk.

A few TSA agents take this to extreme's in what I believe is purely a power play to make them feel better about their triple digit incomes and double digit IQ's.

@Heresy Of Truth: I would think that's also possible that a weakened set of ligaments on her ankle caused the (quite weak to begin with) bones additional strain, which could have caused a fracture, however minute it might be.

Honestly, this is disgusting. I know that with large organization there are bound to be slip ups. But in no way should an organization, government or not purposefully injure an old lady, anyone at that, and especially not when there are alternatives.

Is this normal practice to ask someone being screened to stand on one foot?

@chrisjames: Yeah, that part doesn't make any sense. If it's true the TSA agent was being a jerk just to be a jerk. If it's not true than that's a bizzare thing to add to the story.

They made a friend of mine take off her glove from her burned hand, even though she explained they really don't want her to do that.

@dubs29: Yes, because it's so much fun to walk around on a broken ankle... You may go through the airport regularly, but for those of us that don't it becomes an interesting adventure going through security. I get to have that fun tomorrow, and look forward to taking my cpap machine out of it's bag (since that extra ~cm of fabric would undoubtedly interfere with the xrays...), taking off my shoes and my belt, and emptying out my pockets. I hope I don't have to stand on one leg now too, as I have an exercise class tonight and my legs are going to be sore tomorrow...

It may surprise you, but not everyone that complains is "looking for loot".

@chrisjames:

Most of the TSA people were really nice while I was in my wheel chair. One was a douche-bag, because I couldn't stand and that meant doing extra work. Still the cake topper comes to us from Orlando, FL.

I had finally gotten to the point where I didn't have to be in a wheelchair full-time and was allowed to use crutches. I was, however, told explicitly not to put ANY weight on my broken leg or it would "shear painfully" and I would require more surgery. So I fly to Florida, no biggie, and this is with me going outside ORD for a smoke during a 3 hr (partially due to weather) layover. In Florida, on the way home, the TSA monkeys (two of them!!) refused at first to let me walk through the metal detector with my crutches / brace and then sit down while they did their search / scanned the crutches, after handing them the doctor's card explaining what I COULDN'T do. They didn't back down, so I literally looked at the guy, at 3PM and yelled "Don't be a moron, if I put weight on this leg it breaks again you idiot! The fact is you're lucky I'm on crutches, a few weeks ago I was in a wheelchair unable to stand. Hell man, I've got enough metal in my leg I could walk through this thing naked and set it off!"

Basically my drug-addled (I was on some pretty heavy pain-killers yet) mind couldn't really deal with the pain after standing in line for 15 min I just couldn't take anymore. I know, it doesn't seem like a lot, but after 3 months of NOT standing, that's exhausting, and with a plate / screws in my collarbone too, painful. I must have scared them, pretty good, because all of a sudden they shut up and did the same thing ORD did.

Never got an apology for their stupidity though.

Are you guys really unable to understand how a minor bone fracture would be diagnosed and treated as a sprain?

@Lvhakra:

Heh, I couldn't take my brace off. Non. Not allowed. I had a set range of mobility (which the brace locked) and was under doctor's orders not to take it off. That was on my doctor's card too. People that actually read the card when it was handed to them did all right, people that thought it was a business card (WTF? Why would I be interested in handing you a business card in a security line? An oversized, laminated business card at that?) did not.

@dragonfire81: It feels more like a catchphrase that makes people -think- that they'll deal with it, but in reality it's their way of saving face and saying 'Oh, hey, looks like something bad happened, we'll get right on this when we feel like it, and nothing will come of it aside from retraining and possibly a verbal scolding'

I blame the nearby Hanford radiation for making the TSA agents there even less unreasonable than usual.

@Inglix_the_Mad: lol, that reminds me of the incident I had with the CATSA (Canadian version of the TSA, they love to abuse their power as well). I had a sprained ankle, and was using crutches to get around ( I sprained it while on vacation; I was flying home). They wanted to scan the crutches, and look at my ankle, since it was really swollen, they might have thought I was hiding a bomb in my sock.
Anyways, when they asked me to take off both shoes, so they could check them (WTF?), I just sat on the floor, and proceeded to take my shoes and roll down my sock on the swollen ankle. One of the guards asked why I did this, and I told her that I couldn't bear any weight on the sprained ankle. They thought I was nuts, but hey, my health comes first.

Shouldn't this be categorized as "Taking it Seriously"?

eh, she was being mugged while being asked to stand on one foot. It was all a distraction... :-) I'd suggest she checks her camera and expensive gadgets...before boarding.. :-)

I believe it, 4-5 years ago I went to Hawaii with my parents my mom is on level 6 oxygen the TSA agent at our check point took the oxygen away from her so they could scan it threw the xray machine. She went with out oxygen for 3-5 minutes because of this asshat. The only good thing about it is that a supervisor was actually watching their employees and came over and yelled at the agent who did it and apologized for what the agent did. They also explained to the agent that if someone is on oxygen you do NOT take away from them they can DIE. It was cool that they did it but I think it was really more for their benefit than ours. If something happened to her while she was deprived oxygen because of the TSA agent who took it away that's one hell of a lawsuit.

What is the freaking deal with all this blaming the victim?? She was likely misdiagnosed or the fracture was so tiny it didn't show up on the initial X ray. In that case, standing on it--balancing on it--would have enlarged it. The real issue here is that if someone is in a brace or on crutches, it is shockingly abusive to make her stand on the injured foot. If the troglodytic TSA worker thought she was lying, there are other ways to deal with it. I hope she sues the bejesus out of the airline, the TSA and that worker.

It's always the smallest airports with the biggest power trips. It's like those TSA agents *want* a terrorist to walk through their little kingdom so they can become famous.

It's nice to know that the terrorists can't use casts to get through security, but can still print a fake ticket and bring 12-oz of "saline solution for medical purposes.

Security theatre at its best.

I wear two knee braces which are very difficult and painful to remove and put back on. TSA made me take both of them off. They also took away my cane. When I balked, they pulled me aside for a "special" search, after I took the braces off.

They were also concerned that the braces had metal in them. The braces have one hinged metal support on the inside of the knee and one on the outside. One brace has a split seam where the support is, so I pulled it out to show them what the metal was. They yelled at me for doing that.

I arrived at the airport more than two hours before my flight, but just barely made the flight. By the time I left the screening area I was in incredible pain. But at least you're all safe from my deadly terrorist knee braces.

She should easily win a mid-to-high five figure settlement. Lucky lady!