October 12, 2016 – Doctors Note

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Anchor lead:  People with certain medical conditions apparent on scanners should bring a doctors note when traveling, Elizabeth Tracey reports

People with hernias in the grain region, large skin tags, colostomy bags, and other medical conditions that are likely to trigger airport scanners should bring along a doctor’s note describing their condition when they plan to fly, case reports by Mahadevappa Mahesh, chief physicist at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and colleagues recommend.

Mahesh: We want to make sure that such situations are avoided by travelers when they’re going through and our recommendation is especially for travelers who have such medical conditions such as hernia, extra growth or cyst, which can show up on the scanner as something on their body, the best advice is for them to have a doctor’s note with them, so that the airport security officials can actually make a reasonable judgment on this condition rather than go through a lengthy, embarrassing situation.   :31

Mahesh says such scrutiny is largely the result of drug smuggling efforts where caches of illegal drugs are taped to someone’s body.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.