FDA approves implantable chip in patients to pass medical info to doctors

[Guest guest]

FDA approves implantable chip in patients to pass medical info to

doctors

Canadian Press

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/redir.php?jid=03e379f66410dae1 & cat=a1e025da3c02c\

a7c

October 13, 2004

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved

an implantable computer chip that can pass a patient's medical details

to doctors, speeding care.

VeriChips, radio frequency microchips the size of a grain of rice, have

already been used to identify wayward pets and livestock. And nearly 200

people working in Mexico's attorney general's office have been implanted

with chips to access secure areas containing sensitive documents.

Delray Beach, Fla.-based Applied Digital Solutions in July asked the FDA

for approval to use the implantable chip for medical uses in the United

States. The agency had 60 days to reply to the " de novo " application.

It's the first time the FDA has approved the use of the device, though

in Mexico, more than 1,000 scannable chips have been implanted in

patients. The chip's serial number pulls up patients' blood type and

other medical information.

With the pinch of a syringe, the microchip is inserted under the skin in

a procedure that takes less than 20 minutes and leaves no stitches.

Silently and invisibly, the dormant chip stores a code - similar to the

identifying UPC code on products sold in retail stores - that releases

patient-specific information when a scanner passes over the chip.

At the doctor's office, those codes stamped onto chips, once scanned,

would reveal such information as a patient's allergies and prior

treatments.

The FDA in October 2002 said that the agency would regulate health care

applications possible through VeriChip. Meanwhile, the chip has been

used for a number of security-related tasks as well as for pure whimsy:

Club hoppers in Barcelona, Spain, now use the microchip much like a

smartcard to speed drink orders and payment.

On the Net: http://www.4verichip.com/index.htm