Invasive TSA Search Brings Cancer Survivor to Tears

SAN ANTONIO -- A woman is speaking out in hopes of restoring her dignity. She said a TSA agent at the San Antonio International Airport pulled her prosthesis without notifying her.

The woman, Suzanne Steiner, is a breast cancer survivor. She said she never thought her prosthesis would make her feel embarrassed.

What was supposed to be a fun vacation to Orlando, began with a travel day Suzanne Steiner won't soon forget.

"I have never been treated like this," Steiner said.

In early May, after passing through the full body scanner at the airport, Steiner was pulled to the side by a female TSA agent.

"She started to search me, only my right breast," Steiner said. "And I said, 'Oh that's alright, that's my prosthesis, I've had a mastectomy.'

"So she starts searching more, and I thought, 'what the heck is all that about?'."

Steiner said the agent never acknowledged her or told her what she was doing. Instead, according to Steiner, the agent proceeded to pull the prosthesis out of her bra, about an inch away from her body.

"I don't cry easily, and I sat at the gate nearly in tears," she said.

Steiner said when she tried to file a complaint that day, TSA agents were insensitive. One agent told her, "you set off an alarm, you should expect to be checked". Already embarrassed, Steiner said that made the situation even worse.