Microchipping: It's Not Just for Fido Anymore

Janey Goude — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:13:00 GMT

I'm not a big news buff, but by now my husband would have clued me in on something this sensational. Amazingly, he hadn't heard of it either. I just read an article on the use of microchips in Alzheimer's patients. Yes, I said IN. The same technology that has been used in pets since the 1980's is now being used in humans.

I did a quick search to gather a bit more information. Not surprisingly, Florida, a state well known for retirees, is pioneering this effort. To date, at least 100* Florida residents (humans with Alzheimer's and their caregivers) have been implanted with an RFID microchip, similar to the one used in man's best friend. I haven't seen a clear reason for implanting the caregivers--maybe as a control group or perhaps to lessen the blowback of using invasive technology on an unwitting patient?

Another murky area is what this chip will and won't do. In reading the articles it is easy to get the impression that the microchip acts as a tracking device, a sort of human GPS. But to date, that is not the case. The people in Florida have microchips that only contain personal data, like a traveling medical history. If a patient wanders off and happens to be taken to one of a handful of Emergency Rooms equipped with a scanner, they can pull up the patient's name, personal information, and medical history from a database where it has been stored and updated since implantation of the RFID microchip device.

But there are states that have entertained human GPS systems--for prisoners. As early as 2004, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections had plans to fit 44,000 inmates and guards with wristwatch-sized transmitters. These transmitters have GPS tracking capabilities and would also sound an alarm if they were being tampered with or if a guard fell to the ground. In 2007, Oklahoma legislators upped the ante when they introduced a bill to implant microchips into prisoners convicted of violent crimes in order to monitor them after their release from prison. Articles are unclear whether these devices would be informational or tracking in nature. The House of Representatives in Oklahoma sent the prisoner microchip bill back to committee, but only after the Senate passed it! Reportedly the House was concerned that the forced implantation of the microchip might potentially violate the prisoners' constitutional civil liberties. Perhaps if we called it a "clinical trial"?

*some reports say 100, some 200, some as high as 400.

The Busy PT's Guide to Finding Balance : Geriatrics

Microchipping: It's Not Just for Fido Anymore