NEWS: FDA OKS implanted medical info chip, page 1

Originally posted by sanctum
O.K.!?
So if this chip is supposedly 'dormant' what real use does it have medically? Very little because we
all 'age'. Therefore if someone broke their leg (for example) today and was implanted with that chip and information, and five years later suffered a totally unrelated medical emergency or urgent issue
the first thing the medico's would do is scan the 'domant chip' for past medical history.

In this senario, it would only waste precious time. Unless the chip could be updated by the scanner,
which would make it an active chip rather than a dormant chip.

All sounds very Orwellian to me.

Sanc'.

I believe the chip works much like the ones in my cats, which are made by the same company, BTW. The actual chip doesn't contain the information, but an ID#, which would be attached to your medical file, contained in a national (or global) database. This database would be accessed by every medical professional and every time you visited a doctor, hospital, pharmacist, psychiatrist, etc, it would be updated.

By scanning the chip, the doctor would be able to access your entire medical history. The advantage is that if you are incapacitated, an EMT or emergency room tech would know everything about you, not to mention facillitating HMO billing, but the disadvantages are obvious--big brother type surveillence.

Electronic medical databases are already in use, BTW, although it will take quite a while to complete a national system. Many HMOs have systems in place to keep track of care and ease billing--I was surprised to see such a system in place when I accompanied my father on a doctor's visit. The HMO doctor had a computer in each examination room and using my father's insurance card, he was able to pull up not only his record with this doctor, but also specialists and his pharmacy record. Government regulation has been passed that calls for a national database system to be built, and this goes along with assigning everyone national ID #'s.

The thought of having an ID # that not only accesses my medical history, but will be used to link up my credit history, address, travel patterns, family/friends/business associates, phone records, tax returns, income, bank accounts, purchase history, and any other information about me is somewhat disconcerting because I will have no control over who has access to it. This information can and will be sold and searched by strangers for everything from homeland security to marketing purposes. The potential for abuse is high, as well as the need for extremely high security. Being that they system is controlled by the government (or even a corporation), these issues worry me.

What is even more chilling is the thought of having my national ID # implanted in my body, which can be scanned remotely. This is all years off, but think of sci-fi movies like Minority Report where personalized holographic ads are beamed at you (or at billboards near you) by scanning your ID # and accessing your purchase history and net worth. Or even more sinister purposes, and perhaps I am being paranoid, but perhaps a kidnapper would be able to access your personal information using a handheld device and determining if your family can pay a high ransom if you are kidnapped.

Just considering the use for medical purposes, the possibility for abuse is also there. Employers can secretly scan your medical history and determine if you would raise their insurance premiums or if you have any medical/psychological conditions that would make you a poor choice for employment. Life insurance companies can do the same thing.

I think it is naive to consider only the benefits of a centralized database of information and an implant, especially when the issue of who is controlling the information is entered into the equation.