WASHINGTON – A microchip that can be implanted under the skin to give doctors instant access to a patient’s records has won government approval, a step that could revolutionize medical care but is raising alarm among privacy advocates.
The tiny electronic capsule, the first such device to receive FDA approval, carries a code that allows doctors to confirm a patient’s identity and obtain detailed medical information from an accompanying database.
Applied Digital Solutions Inc., of Delray Beach, Fla., plans to market the VeriChip systems – the chips, scanners and computerized database – to hospitals, doctors and patients as a way to improve care and avoid errors by ensuring that doctors know who they are treating and their personal health details.
Doctors would scan patients like cans at a grocery store. Instead of the price, the patient’s medical record would pop up on a computer screen. Emergency room doctors could scan unconscious car accident victims to check their blood type and medications, and make sure they have no drug allergies. Surgeons could scan patients in the operating room to guard against cutting into the wrong person. Chips could be implanted in Alzheimer’s patients in case they get lost.
“In hospitals today, many deaths occur because people aren’t able to communicate timely enough their medical information or because of wrong information,” said Scott Silverman, the company’s chief executive. “With VeriChip, you’ll be able to have accurate information even if a patient can’t talk. It’s a way to modernize our antiquated system of medical records.”
The approval was immediately denounced by privacy advocates, who fear it could endanger patient privacy and mark a dangerous step toward a Big Brother future in which people will be tracked by the implants or required to have them inserted for surveillance, identification and other purposes.
Once the technology is out there and is available, it raises the very real possibility that police, health authorities or insurance companies will require or demand it, said Katherine Albrecht, who has campaigned against such devices.
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