> Given the somewhat stark choice, he chose removal of the seton, which was done by a doctor at the airport who claimed never to have come across one before.
That's what I would have done, but I can understand the reticence. Being denied entry -- especially due to security concerns -- can turn into a Big Deal with lots of downstream effects.
That would at the very least incur costs for new flights. Airlines may charge you for the return, too. It may cause future immigration trouble. Some travel is time sensitive.
After all that, if the trip is more than a couple of days, you have to pay American healthcare rates to get a new one put in so the hole doesn’t close up. That could be $20-30k given it required general anesthesia.
...and did not bother to find out whether it was before removing the seton. That's malpractice in my book, though I doubt the victim has standing to sue.
The selection and training of border control weeds out any curiosity or empathy. In practical terms the person wouldn't have been allowed to use their phone, it may even have been confiscated.
My wife got pulled aside for additional screening for taking a breast pump on a business trip, until an older female agent told the young woman doing it "It's a breast pump."
Where do you get this kind of optimism? I would think time + rejected entry into the country would teach travellers to more vigilantly defer to the TSA.
In the chaos post 911 there was a lot of resources poured into the new Homeland Security and TSA agencies, as well as huge expectations. Rights of travelers weren’t the first priority, it was all about safety and national security. Only by the passage of time were they able to moderate their practices and adopt reasonable policies for treating travelers, especially edge cases. That and lawsuits. When the courts get involved, things tend to change rather quickly relative to lodging complaints.
I think this is a general dynamic. A familiar metaphor might be that of a startup’s journey from idea to stability at scale. It takes time and mistakes to figure out how to balance stakeholders’s interests.
I also think tech/eng UX practices have had such a cultural impact that customer experience and usability are more top of mind for decision makers and customers alike. Concurrently, ubiquitous pocket cameras and video distribution have held all kinds of law enforcement more accountable, including TSA. Commerce drives this. A sharp decline in flight travel due to draconian enforcement would be railed against by business and government interests alike. With some of the safety and security concerns waning, the pressure is on TSA to get out of the way.
I wouldn’t call any of that optimism per se, but I see how it could be perceived that way. Travelers most definitely did get taught to fear the TSA and it’s cost us tremendously. That fear is well-earned, and the panopticon + excessive policing powers still need to be corrected on a legislative level.
Maybe it's not amazing that the letter writer thinks that the solution is yet another letter?
Agent A: “hey Bob, this one has something medical-looking anally attached. Should we get a medic to take it out for inspection?”
Agent B: “No, they’ve presented us with a Doctor’s Note. Let them in through.”
I suggest that any patient with a seton who is planning to travel to the USA or any other country where they are likely to be searched in this manner should carry a letter from their specialist explaining the nature of their condition and treatment.
But the Homeland was protected, can never be too careful these days. And if you wonder if a doctor would perform a procedure for no medical reason, and the procedure could harm the patient, well there you go.
Sorry for playing the devil's advocate but policing officers being stupid or arrogant and behaving with contempt for the law is not an American exclusive.
In Canada and many European countries they do the same, too.
I would say it depends who you are, what you look like and where you come from.
But as a super privileged white German the US border control (around 2009) was definitely the harshest I have experienced.
I travelled to many places in Africa, Asia and South America as well, never had been questioned and probed like i was in the USA. Ofc i cant speak to the experience in EU.
> I travelled to many places in Africa, Asia and South America as well, never had been questioned and probed like i was in the USA.
The last time I travelled to Mozambique, some “security person” armed with what looked like an AK47 (I don’t know firearms), asked me to see my passport. He then proceeded to demand payment, uhm, I mean ransom. At the airport.
That’s far far scarier than anything I’ve experienced at a U.S. airport, even as a foreigner.
2003 - 2009 seemed exceptionally wild west for the TSA in my anecdotal experience. I had the TSA damage medical equipment (insulin pumps and glucose meters) more than once over the years by not complying with policies, and ignoring information given to them in real time. I can't imagine how much worse it was for people being threatened right after procedures. At least my worst fears were "Okey my bg was x, I have y spare supplies, So I have 6 hours to get to a pharmacy or hospital, unless I annoy them and they hold me, then I could die."
Vs having a procedure from an unvetted doctor in an airport...
They are still damaging/destroying insulin pumps. I had a coworker who was recently stopped ay security. His pump failed to pass at the swab. To pass through security they required the pump pass through the xray scanner. Refusing to retest the swab, and disregarding the damage which could occur.
Either causation or coincidence, it broke shortly after.
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[ 3.8 ms ] story [ 111 ms ] threadHere you go: http://i2.wp.com/thecuriousbrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2015...
We don't know given the lack of details in OP, but a few possibilities come to mind:
- Time-sensitivity to attend a meeting, deliver knowledge, deliver goods, etc.
- Fleeing country of origin to seek asylum
- Relatively extraordinary expense of plane ticket and lack of means to purchase another
The linked OP which I read is an article summary and that summary does not identify the author as a tourist on vacation.
I do not have access to the full article.
That would at the very least incur costs for new flights. Airlines may charge you for the return, too. It may cause future immigration trouble. Some travel is time sensitive.
After all that, if the trip is more than a couple of days, you have to pay American healthcare rates to get a new one put in so the hole doesn’t close up. That could be $20-30k given it required general anesthesia.
I think this is a general dynamic. A familiar metaphor might be that of a startup’s journey from idea to stability at scale. It takes time and mistakes to figure out how to balance stakeholders’s interests.
I also think tech/eng UX practices have had such a cultural impact that customer experience and usability are more top of mind for decision makers and customers alike. Concurrently, ubiquitous pocket cameras and video distribution have held all kinds of law enforcement more accountable, including TSA. Commerce drives this. A sharp decline in flight travel due to draconian enforcement would be railed against by business and government interests alike. With some of the safety and security concerns waning, the pressure is on TSA to get out of the way.
I wouldn’t call any of that optimism per se, but I see how it could be perceived that way. Travelers most definitely did get taught to fear the TSA and it’s cost us tremendously. That fear is well-earned, and the panopticon + excessive policing powers still need to be corrected on a legislative level.
Agent A: “hey Bob, this one has something medical-looking anally attached. Should we get a medic to take it out for inspection?”
Agent B: “No, they’ve presented us with a Doctor’s Note. Let them in through.”
I suggest that any patient with a seton who is planning to travel to the USA or any other country where they are likely to be searched in this manner should carry a letter from their specialist explaining the nature of their condition and treatment.
In Canada and many European countries they do the same, too.
But as a super privileged white German the US border control (around 2009) was definitely the harshest I have experienced.
I travelled to many places in Africa, Asia and South America as well, never had been questioned and probed like i was in the USA. Ofc i cant speak to the experience in EU.
Edit: added date
The last time I travelled to Mozambique, some “security person” armed with what looked like an AK47 (I don’t know firearms), asked me to see my passport. He then proceeded to demand payment, uhm, I mean ransom. At the airport.
That’s far far scarier than anything I’ve experienced at a U.S. airport, even as a foreigner.
Vs having a procedure from an unvetted doctor in an airport...
Either causation or coincidence, it broke shortly after.