Implanted Data Chips About to Be Available in Some DC Hospitals
Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey was the first hospital to routinely scan ER patients for implanted chips last summer. These VeriChip microchips manufactured by a subsidiary of Applied Digital are implanted under the arm’s skin with a relatively quick and painless insertion. Some doctors have started recommending the devices to patients likely to need emergency care while inconscious. In cases where time is of the essence and the availability of reliable, thorough information is critical, this system could save lives. This is still very early though, with only about 100 chips having been implanted in the United States so far, many of them into employees of the device’s manufacturer.
The chips do not carry medical information on them. What they store is a 16-digit identifier which then needs to be read with a handheld or wall-mounted scanner and matched against a patient record stored at the hospital. VeriChip is promoting its chips for a number of other scenarios such as wander prevention or asset tracking, the later being what RFID technology is most-often used for. VeriChip is targeting Washington, D.C. as the first area with several hospitals able to scan IDs off its chips. This is of course a chicken-and-egg situation, as having a chip on you is not going to help if care providers cannot read it.
The devices where approved for human use by the FDA in October 2004, which stirred a fair amount of controversy at the time. The Washington Post reports on the latest developments and lists the various privacy and security concerns raised by implantation of the chips on human beings.
March 15, 2006 Related topics: Wireless, New Technology & Innovation, Emergency