Who Would Use RFID Implants?
Silverman says the medical chips are meant for five groups of patients: • People with other implanted medical devices, such as defibrillators. • Heart patients, especially patients who have stents in one or more blood vessels. • People with diabetes. • Memory-impaired patients, such as people with Alzheimer’s disease. • Patients who need frequent medical care. The devices won’t do much good unless hospitals buy scanners. Applied Digital maintains a secure database to hold client records. But many hospitals using the system will set up secure databases to hold — and to safeguard — the medical records of patients with RFID implants. Two hospitals already are set up to do this: New Jersey’s Hackensack Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. John Halamka, MD, an emergency-room doctor at Beth Israel Deaconess, has one of the chips implanted in the back of his right arm, between the elbow and the shoulder. An account of his impressions appears in the July 28 issue of T
