Hospital to electronically tag babies

Cape Town - A Western Cape public hospital plans to tag babies electronically in its bid to fight baby-snatching, The Cape Times newspaper reported on Tuesday.

If the security measure is implemented, Tygerberg Hospital would become the first public health facility to use the tag

The device looks like a plaster. It would get automatically activated if the baby is removed from a certain area.

Link to full article.

I think this is a great plan. Since baby snatching is a serious issue, i think this is a great way of ensuring this does not happen, and to lessen the risk of it happening.

It is sad however that it should even come to this. The fact that a baby has to be electronically tagged, just to protect the baby from getting stolen.

VVV

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep

Yep i agree, this might help reduce snatching and baby mix ups, which do happen as well, at least its not a bar code on the arm or an embedded RFID tag..

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep


i have no idea what the baby snatching issue in S.A. is like,
so i can't really speak specifically to whether this is an effective way to combat the issue.

but the thought of tagging humans like animals is a bit unnerving.
it doesn't sit well at all with me in fact.
it seems like a very slippery slope.

shame about the issue, though. i hope that something can be done to help keep newborns with their birth parents.

reply to post by slowisfast

Most places already tag people and babies in hospital. with wrist or ankle bands, this is no different except its electronic, it helps stop things going wrong, like how would you feel if you came to the hospital to find that due to a mix up your new baby boy had been circumcised when you didn't want it.. because the number had been read wrong off the id bracelet.. but this is the world we live in.

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep


Is baby mix ups seriously an issue?

I mean.. why? It's so stupid, something can be easily avoided.

Hell, put a post-it note on the baby saying who he belongs to. Won't really help with the snatching, better security could be used for that, but it just seems like a silly issue that can easily be avoided.

The article is quite vague ...
So, assuming the plaster cannot simply be removed, prior to the baby theft, then this may be effective, so long as the baby is in the hospital, wearing the plaster ...

But the baby is only in hospital briefly ... for the duration of its time being a baby, it will be outside the hospital, under the protection of its Mother / Loved ones ... which should be adaquate, but not always so in this world, as many news reports tells us ...

Aahhh .. but tests show a tag type device in hospitals to be effective against baby theft ... perhaps if we could roll this out on a larger scale ... outside hospital .... But it would have to be implanted chip, so the abductor could not remove it, and the baby could remain traceable ....
Which is unlikely i guess ... as it could still be surgically removed ... though may provide enough time for baby to be tracked ..

But ... continuing down this theoretical road ... Although most parents would be disgusted by the idea of having a chip implanted in their baby (for security) ... i suspect there are still some parents would embrace the idea .. for what ever insecurities they may have, from their own life experiences, or from advantages pertaining to their lifestyle .. or pregnancies where perhaps one of the parents is not trusted by the other ... mental instability .. and therefore, denied access to the baby, for the babies protection, with a very real risk of the unstable parent attempting kidnap ... teh chip may be able to monitor certain vitals .. eg . pulse, respiratory .... and could alert the parent to problems ... eg .. cot death ... or help in early detection of problems.. the list of apparent advantages goes on .. As opposed to being 'forced' initially ... a small minority could be sold the idea, and be begging for them ... just to get the general public used to them for a few years or so

Regardless of the reason .. in such a scenario .. where a small proportion of parents accepted such a thing .. its fair to say in 5 or 10 years time ... it would be generally, less, unaccepted by society .. as it has been commonplace a while ... and would be met with less disgust in time ... where, even more people would embrace it, as it has been so effective so far, with no obvious drawbacks (yet) .... Then, its not a giant leap from there, to see how such a thing could become mandatory, and continue to be implanted at birth .. at hospital .. and it is at that point, that the baby is 'registered' ... digital birth certificate .. the person now digitally exists ....

So, anyone born outside of hospital, and able to be kept 'under the radar', would not be digitally registered, and doesnt digitally exist ....
Now .. since all legal babies have a chip ... all registered and connected to the same 'machine' ... For convenience, and huge additional security .. they should just go ahead and use this chip for general ID purposes too .. hmmm .. may as well use it for buying and selling too .... you see where i am going with this ...

But the whole chip thing is all a bit far off in the future for me ... i know its here, now, in many's opinion on ATS .. But where I am .. they are hardly going to slap a chip on me tomorrow .. Im sure it wont be an overnight thing .. and i will have more than a days notice ... I will apply some thought as to how i am going to deal with avoiding the chip, when dependance on it becomes more of a reality ..
It's probably likely to be you guys in america that get it first ... you always get everything first .. then UK get it later, when you's have lost the novely factor and are done showing off with your new toys ... in the case of the chip .. I don't want it first ... when i see that being forced on people elsewhere ... it will give me time to prepare myself
Or maybe it will be SA that gets it first .. going by that 'vague' report ..

Originally posted by Lionhearte
reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep

 

Is baby mix ups seriously an issue?

I mean.. why? It's so stupid, something can be easily avoided.

Hell, put a post-it note on the baby saying who he belongs to. Won't really help with the snatching, better security could be used for that, but it just seems like a silly issue that can easily be avoided.

Not baby mix ups mate.

Baby snatching, Baby stealing from the hospital.

I dunno why people would steal a baby from a hospital, but yes, it happens often.

VVV

The first thing that comes to mind is that there shouldn't be a problem if baby and mother are kept together and the mother is encouraged to keep as much contact with baby as she can. I would think that would deal with the baby snatching problem and support the healthy mother/baby bonding thing at the same time...
But, I'm judging without all the details. However, seeing as tagging is put forward as the answer, perhaps some concern over and questions about the procedures used is warranted...

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep


Sorry if this is a bit off topic but if women had their babies at home with a midwife (Have the high risk pregnancies at the hospital of course)It would be so much better. Pregancy isn't a disease why have we come to view it as such?

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep
This is just an excuse for implant chips.

They will end up having this security system beaten covertly so that they can introduce security chip implants.

Everyone will be stupid enough to go along with it saying how wonderful no will beat the implant system.

reply to post by WhatAreSpinkters


You are not far from the truth, the implantable traceable chips were offered in Florida to parents to track their children, for free, and for adults for a fee to keep records.

It didn't go well and the project was abandon, at least voluntarily, with the health care reform and the records to be digitalized the chips are back.

What else but starting with hospitals, while I agree that a bracelet or tag is OK for mothers and children after all I got one and my child too back in the days, I will never agree with anything that is not removable by choice

The chips maker and already working with tax payer money as incentives by the government to deliver everything for the future, from medical records to medications just name it, the sky is the limit.

It is here already is been funded and it will reach us very soon in our life time.

Originally posted by sprocket2cog
reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep

 

Yep i agree, this might help reduce snatching and baby mix ups, which do happen as well, at least its not a bar code on the arm or an embedded RFID tag..

edit on 10-5-2011 by sprocket2cog because: (no reason given)

Whats the difference? They can tell you what it does without telling you everything it does, not to mention rfids are simply a next step. I understand the babies need to be safe but that is the responsibility of the Hospital and they need to be held accountable, accountability breads better attention to detail and security, buy forcing the Hospital to take responsibility. Denying insurance coverage on kidnapping, and not allowing the hospital to raise prices to cover the fines will be all that is needed fix the problem.

Personally I think this is a ridiculous idea. Baby snatching happens often? I read all sorts of different types of news daily and hardly ever read about babies being taken from hospitals.
I understand there may be certain situations where mom and baby can't be together, but I was with my 2 boys 24/7 while in the hospital after having them. They never left my side.

Im not sure this is the first case of it - I definately remember my second having an electronic tag which went off if she was taken outside the maternity ward. She is 2 as well, so has been going on for a while..

im all for it tbh - nothing would replace that newborn if they were snatched - this is a just a way of discouraging such behaviour. Chip under the skin though as the next step?? Would you even remember it was there? Now thats not cool.

reply to post by IPILYA


The difference is that the plaster isnt permanent. and to say this is the precursor to rfid is just jumping the gun, it all depends on how we as humans act towards each other..
I find it ironic that most of us use phones that track our locations,geotag our photos use near field communication to pay for things, update our twitter and Facebook for the world to know all about us,use the internet with out a VPN etc hiding our IP address..
but we cant care for our new born babies better..
as for rfid tags.. would i have one inserted to contain my medical data in case o an accident, yep.. simple as that.
surviving so i can go home to my family is more important to me then the fact that the government might use it against me.

and if you dont like the tags, well there is always home birth isnt there?