Reportedly hundreds of people have said they want to have a microchip imbedded under their skin, a process that can save lives by making complete and accurate medical information available quickly. The VeriChip, manufactured by Florida-based Applied Digital Solutions, is engraved with a unique identification number. Using a hand-held scanner similar to those used to scan price tags in retail stores, the tiny chip—about the size of a grain of rice—can be scanned in an emergency room or other healthcare setting to reveal a unique identifying code that is linked to a secure worldwide computer database called the Global VeriChip Subscriber (GVS) registry.

The registry, which can be accessed via telephone or the Internet, contains an accurate, subscriber-supplied account of medical conditions, pacemakers or other implants, medications, prior surgeries, allergies and other information that can facilitate quick and appropriate emergency treatment. Persons in emergency medical situations could be unconscious or otherwise unable to give complete and accurate medical information. In the emergency room, time may be wasted locating the patient's physician, who might have to go to the office to get the patient's medical chart.

Soon after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a doctor working for Applied Digital Solutions injected himself with the microchip. Seeing the difficulty workers were having identifying people found in the rubble of the buildings motivated him to personally use the chip for emergency identification.

Matthew Cossolotto, a spokesperson for Applied Digital Solutions, also volunteered to "get chipped."

"Somebody has to pioneer it, and it's a great way to protect your identity," he says. "No one else in the world will be able to say he's me."

Cossolotto hopes that soon ATMs will be able to identify him by his chip, thereby protecting his assets against tampering and fraud. He also foresees that eventually the VeriChip will provide secure access to his PC. "The uses are endless," he says. "Future applications will enable linkage to a global positioning system (GPS) satellite that will make it possible to locate a missing child." This is called a personal location device (PLC), which works like a navigation system in newer models of cars.

The potential for saving lives is far-reaching, especially in cases involving the two top killers, stroke and heart attack, where quick identification and treatment of the problem can make a life-or-death difference. A paramedic could scan the chip in an ambulance, enter the number on a laptop while en route to the hospital, and use the information to guide an appropriate response. The patient's medical history could then be sent by wireless email from the ambulance to the emergency room so hospital staff could be prepared before the patient arrives.

On May 10, 2002, a Florida family became the first family to "get chipped." The Jacobs family—Jeffery, Leslie and their 14-year old son, Derek—underwent the outpatient procedure at the company's first Authorized VeriChip Center in Palm Beach County, Fla. Jeffery is a cancer survivor, has a spinal condition as a result of a car accident, eye problems, and other medical issues that require 10 medications.

Leslie says technology is the most important thing in her son's life. At age 12, Derek became the world's youngest certified Microsoft systems engineer. After learning about the microchip technology on NBC's Today show, Derek encouraged his parents to sign them all up for the chip implants. "Mom, this is where technology is going!" he said.

Derek, who was recently diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, also has some serious allergies and wears a MedicAlert bracelet that's engraved with an identification number. The number is listed with a nationwide computer registry that contains his medical information. "Not only does he want to get rid of the bracelet, he wanted to be the first kid in the world to have the microchip implant," says Derek's mother.

At the urging of his family, an 83-year old Florida man in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease had the microchip implanted, as did three other Applied Digital Solutions executives earlier this year. The procedure is painless and takes only seconds.

As soon as the VeriChip passes final FDA approval, the chip implants will be available to the general public—first in Florida, in VeriChip-authorized centers and in medically equipped mobile units. Later the technology will be available in other states. The cost is expected to be $200 for the implant and about $10 a month to store and update data.

Nonmedical applications of the chip include enhancement of present forms of identification; various law enforcement, homeland security and defense uses; and search and rescue. The microchip is intended as a voluntary procedure used to aid people in emergency situations, but privacy advocates believe there is potential for misuse in this and future nonmedical applications, and some consumers also have doubts.

Dr. Lawrence Roth, a Valley Medical Center board-certified geriatrician, feels the chip would be useful for those who lack mental capacity. "For others, there are less invasive means to establish identification and medical history," says Roth. Jim Welsh, Los Gatos physical therapist, is skeptical of the technology. He feels that the procedure opens the door to identify theft and future invasion and abuses of privacy by wrongdoers, employers and even government.

Perhaps the technology experts will ease the concerns of the chip implant skeptics by using retinal or fingerprint scans in conjunction with the microchip to decrease security risk.

Older Americans, those age 65 and older, comprise 12.5 percent of the population but consume 25 percent of drugs and health services, and in many cases they are the pioneer patients who undergo medical tests and procedures using new technologies. Will this group embrace the new microchip implant? Gloria Stern of Willow Glen, who considers herself a savvy older consumer of medical services, has a positive view of the microchip implant.

"Devices and ideas intended for good have been misused for evil since the beginning of time," she says, "but that's no reason to hold back a technology that, with safeguards in place, has the potential to benefit humanity and save lives."

Cutting-edge technology is expected to have a positive impact on many aspects of health care and personal life in the future. A hand-held computer might signal a pacemaker wearer, a member of his family or his doctor that the battery or some other part of the pacemaker needs attention. If some of the emerging medical technologies sound frighteningly like science fiction, consider how some of the medical processes commonly accepted today might have seemed to someone in the 17th century.

Rita Baum is a Los Gatos resident. She has a master's degree in gerontology and has worked in the field of aging for more than 20 years.

Resources

Applied Digital Solutions, which manufactures VeriChip, is an advanced digital technology development company that focuses on a range of early warning alert, miniaturized power sources and security monitoring systems combined with the comprehensive data management services required to support them. The company was established in 1993. Through its advanced wireless unit, the company specializes in security-related data collection, value-added data intelligence and complex data delivery systems for a wide variety of end users, including commercial operations, government agencies and private consumers.

For more information about VeriChip or Applied Digital Solutions, call 800.970.CHIP or 800.970.2447, or visit www.adsx.com.