Implanted Patient-Data Chips Stirs Debate on Medicine vs. Privacy
The maker of the VeriChip implant, about the size of a grain
of rice, is targeting hospitals in the D.C. area.
Image source: WP / Verichip
of rice, is targeting hospitals in the D.C. area.
Image source: WP / Verichip
Rob Stein writes in The Washington Post:
The two D.C. residents are among just a handful of Americans who have had the tiny electronic VeriChip inserted since the government approved it two years ago. But the chip is being aggressively marketed by its manufacturer, which is targeting Washington to be the first metropolitan area with multiple hospitals equipped to read the device, a persuasive factor for Fischer and Hickey. Within weeks, the first hospital is expected to announce plans to start routinely scanning all emergency-room patients.More here.
Some doctors are welcoming 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 unauthorized 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.
posted by Fergie @ 3/15/2006 08:07:00 AM
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