Chicago (IL) – Doctors could be implanting RFID chips into your bodies, if the American Medical Association has their way.  According to a new report released by the AMA’s Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, active RFID chips could improve the safety and efficiency of patient care.  The chips would be a 21st century version of the famous silvery MedicAlert bracelets worn by millions of people.

Doctor Robert Sade authored the report titled “Radio Frequency ID Devices in Humans” and says the tiny rice grain-sized chips could be safely implanted with a needle.  The active tags would contain an internal battery and be updated with medical information.  So far passive tags, the kind that don’t have batteries, are the only RFID devices that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Sade contends that RFID tags could help emergency room doctors by quickly providing medical and drug usage information, something that would be incredibly valuable if the patient was knocked unconscious or unable to speak.

But Sade also talks about several drawbacks including privacy and health concerns.  The small tags could migrate to other parts of the body, but that could be stopped by using materials that would cause the body to encase the tags in tissue, effectively freezing them in place.  The tags could also interfere or even be destroyed by defibrillators – the machines that shoot electricity into the body in an attempt to shock a heart back into rhythm.

Privacy is of course the biggest concern as people would theoretically be able to scan a patient’s information from several feet away.  Sade says in the report, “At this time, the security of RFID devices has not been fully established.  Physicians, therefore, cannot assure patients that the personal information contained on RFID tags will be appropriately protected.”

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