Cancer patient sues New Jersey DMV over 'humiliating' treatment

EATONTOWN, New Jersey (WPVI) -- A stage two breast cancer patient is suing the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission over what she calls humiliating and discriminatory treatment while attempting to update her driver's license.

WABC-TV reports, Jennifer Giordano has undergone eights rounds of chemotherapy and has lost her hair as a result. Because of that, she was wearing a scarf known as a "chemo cap" when she went to the Eatontown MVC to update her address on June 14.

She claims she was confronted by an employee who repeatedly demanded that she "take that thing off," despite attempts to explain she was wearing the head wrap to deal with the effects of her treatment. She says she tearfully begged that her situation be accommodated, but that she was repeatedly rebuffed by the employee.

She says another employee eventually intervened, telling her that she could obtain a new license using her existing picture on file.

"The treatment Jennifer received at the MVC was appalling and illegal," her attorneys said in a statement. "Breast cancer is a disability under the law, and the MVC should not have harassed our client in this way, especially when the remedy -- to use her old photograph -- existed.

The lawsuit seeks to have the MVC adopt policies and train its employees to ensure that other individuals in similar situations are never treated this way going forward.

"When fighting a potentially deadly disease, no person should ever be treated as I was by the MVC," Giordano said. "I am hoping this lawsuit will result in the department taking the needed steps to ensure no one is ever made to feel as I did."

MVC officials tell WABC-TV they do not comment on pending litigation.

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