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Journalism of Courage
When Daniel Hickey8217;s doctor suggested he have a microchip implanted under his skin to provide instant access to his computerized medical record, the 77-year-old retired naval officer immediately agreed. 8216;8216;If you8217;re unconscious and end up in the emergency room, they won8217;t know anything about you,8217;8217; Hickey said. 8216;8216;With this, they can find out everything they need to know right away and treat you better.8217;8217;
Roxanne Fischer felt the same way, and she had one of the devices injected into the arm of her 83-year-old mother, who has Alzheimer8217;s disease. 8216;8216;I may not be available if she ends up in the emergency room. This gives me tremendous peace of mind,8217;8217; Fischer said.
Some doctors welcome the technology as an exciting innovation that will speed care and prevent errors. But the concept alarms privacy advocates. They worry the devices could make it easier for unauthorised snoops to invade medical records. They also fear that the technology marks a dangerous step toward an Orwellian future in which people will be monitored using the chips or will be required to have them inserted for surveillance.
8216;8216;It may seem innocuous, but the government and private corporations could use these devices to track people8217;s movements,8217;8217; said Liz McIntyre, who co-wrote a book warning about the dangers of such radio-frequency identification technology. 8216;8216;It may sound paranoid, but this is bound to be abused.8217;8217; The devices, originally developed to track livestock, have been implanted in more than 6 million cats and dogs to trace lost or stolen pets.
For medical identification, the device8212;a microchip and a copper antenna encased in a glass capsule about the size of a grain of rice8212;is inserted, usually under the skin on the back of a patient8217;s arm, in a quick, relatively painless procedure. Each unit, which lasts indefinitely, transmits a unique 16-digit number that can be read by a handheld scanner. The number is used to locate a medical record previously stored on a secure Web site.
Using the system, emergency-room doctors could scan unconscious or incoherent patients to quickly check their blood type and find out if they are taking any medications or have allergies or other medical conditions. Nurses could identify family members and determine whether patients are organ donors or have living wills. Surgeons could scan patients on the operating table to make sure they are working on the right person.
With this, a quick scan back and forth across their arm could make all the difference in critical life-and-death situations where seconds count,8217;8217; said Jonathan Musher, a Maryland physician the company hired to help recruit hospitals and assemble a nationwide network of doctors offering the chips. Privacy advocates worry that the devices are prone to invasion because they can be surreptitiously scanned from a distance. 8216;8216;It8217;s not a secure chip,8217;8217; said Richard M Smith, an Internet and privacy consultant in Boston. 8216;8216;There8217;s nothing to stop someone from accessing the code and cloning the chip8217;8217; to access records, he said.
Even though the medical information is stored in a protected computer, anyone with a password could obtain the information. And, like any computerised database, it could be vulnerable to hackers. 8216;8216;The privacy of VeriChip8217;s customers is our highest priority,8217;8217; said Scott Silverman, the chief executive of Applied Digital Solutions Inc, the firm8217;s parent company. 8216;8216;Both the amount of information and who has authorised access to that information is determined by the user.8217;8217;
Others worry about how the devices will be used in the future. 8216;8216;This device is intended to uniquely number humans. It8217;s embedded in the flesh, and it8217;s permanent. It can be read without someone8217;s knowledge and consent,8217;8217; McIntyre said. 8216;8216;Scanners can be installed in doorways or ceiling tiles to track people8217;s comings and goings without them even being aware it8217;s happening.8217;8217;
The Washington Post
