VeriChip chipping 200 Alzheimer's patients for RFID VeriMed trials

Maybe it's our inevitable future, but we still can't help but feel a bit icky at the thought of VeriChip implanting VeriMed RFID chips into 90 volunteers suffering from Alzheimer's. The two-year trial program, VeriMed Patient Identification Project, will involve 200 patients, and apparently so far everybody is pretty upbeat about the idea. We first heard about this a couple months ago, but it seems things are really ramping up. The chips are designed to manage the records of the patients and their caregivers, and VeriChip is confident that it'll be growing into other "high-risk patient categories" soon.

[farley.public @ Sep 4th 2007 11:22AM]

I hate to be the first one to comment with an Alzheimer's joke, but with their anti-depression meds, they would probably be upbeat anyway. But aside from that, this is a dangerous path we are headed down. It may seem like a good idea for Alzheimer's patients, but then it will be convicts, and high security corporate officers, then children. It is not hard to envision a scenario where almost the entire country would be chipped. Watch out for Big Brother.

[JCA @ Sep 4th 2007 2:14PM]

This situation seems like the watershed moment that is sorta foretold at the end of the movie Zeitgeist. I don't know whether to believe the movie's implications or not but at the bare minimum it is very thought provoking.

[Pete Teoh @ Sep 4th 2007 11:29AM]

If I'm chipped and I get lost, will my cats get a phone call when Animal Control finds me?

[Marcelo Glielmo @ Sep 4th 2007 11:35AM]

There we go, CIAs chips hidden in cheese...

[Anthony @ Sep 4th 2007 11:35AM]

Why do things like this always bring up "Big Brother"? If a chip can be implanted that can't be lost to give your medical information if something should happen, isn't that a good thing? It would be much more reliable than a bracelet/necklace that can be lost, broken, etc.

[Jake @ Sep 4th 2007 1:32PM]

because Big Brother also wants them to be reliable. The idea is that one should at least be able to take something off when the convenience it provides is outweighed by it's negative features. (like tracking one's position)

[Pragmatist @ Sep 7th 2007 1:51PM]

Anthony--how can you be so naive? so you wnat to be chipped and who would know you have a chip? Since its implanted under your skin! Soon we will be branded as cattle--this company Verichip smells like a rat! One should ask do the owners of this compamy their families and employees do they all have a chip implanted? using on poor indiviuduals such as 'dementia patients' who are unable to comprehend what they are getting into!

[Raven @ Sep 4th 2007 12:05PM]

Did anyone else automatically think of the pilot episode of Futurama and the "Career chip" after reading this?

[BrotherhoodOfNod @ Sep 4th 2007 12:07PM]

Actually, I like the idea. I think it's just the next logical step for us in medical progress. First we used what's available in nature, then we began mastering the ability to isolate, synthesize and most importantly, understand drugs and their effects.

And now, the ability to work directly on the illnesses. Viva technological progress =D

*Waits impatiently for true, sci-fi-style cybernetic prosthetics with human or better levels of articulation*

[MrTroy @ Sep 4th 2007 12:35PM]

I thought the RFID chips only lasted 5 years(the actually battery life)? Am I wrong?

[Jake @ Sep 4th 2007 1:31PM]

yes.these are passive rfid chips. they get power from the same electro-magnetic waves used to communicate with them

[TIMMAH! @ Sep 4th 2007 1:02PM]

Is one of the volunteers named 'John Anderton'?

[spw @ Sep 4th 2007 1:10PM]

passive RFID?

[Bill @ Sep 4th 2007 1:18PM]

What big brother?

Anyone who doesn't want one can get it out with a razor blade and a few minutes of spare time.

[Brad @ Sep 4th 2007 1:31PM]

I know at hospitals inpatients are given bracelets that are difficult to remove, and in the case of the elderly and the children, these usually have built in RFID. Im not sure I see the point of a non-upgradable implant, when the bracelets really do work well. As for everyone else (who is able to take care of themselves), the whole idea is absolutely pointless. I carry a wallet, which has an id and a number of other cards. Why not just put RFID in my license, then when I get a new license, I get the newest version of the RFID system, without having to have my arm cut open.

This comment of course is written from the perspective of someone who doesnt mind carrying around government tracking technology all the time. That is not me...

[ShogunMaster @ Sep 4th 2007 1:34PM]

Ahh, the Mark of the Beast is here at last. "And he causes all, both great and small, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark" (Rev.13:16-1). Start praying kids, it's all coming to a head...

[SuiXide @ Sep 4th 2007 1:43PM]

Glad I don't have to be the first to say it.

[Scott @ Sep 4th 2007 1:57PM]

I heard about this 5 years ago when i chipped my dog. The vet specifically mentioned Alzheimer cases could benefit from the technology. Needless to say i've never lost my dog.

[Brian @ Sep 4th 2007 3:24PM]

Did these people really volunteer, or did VeriChip just say that they did? After all, the have Alzheimer's so it's not likely that they'd remember.

[Brian @ Sep 4th 2007 3:35PM]

Did these people really volunteer for the trial, or did VeriChip just say they did? Afterall, they have Alzheimer's so they're not likely going to be able to remember saying "yes" to this.

[Rogel @ Sep 4th 2007 4:25PM]

the new world order is almost here... 666 under ur skin. take care my friends. humans will win...

[Gregg @ Sep 4th 2007 4:33PM]

Is "Big Brother" a concern? Certainly not because of the implicit trust that we have in our infalible form of government. I mean it's not like we could ever live in a society where the popular vote places the current president in office.. ooops, i guess that isn't actually the case in the US. Well but its not like any corporate concerns would ever pervert the cause of fairness for all by using lobbyists or similiar systems that would put their interests ahead of others for profit... no wait.. Oil concerns, War profiteering.. That's us oh.. i mean that's U.S.

[arben @ Sep 4th 2007 4:57PM]

check out http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com
Talk about Big Brother

[jroc @ Sep 4th 2007 5:01PM]

I saw this exact movie and also am concerned about this new tracking devices and the fact that george bush has unlimited power if he blows up another building as he has done with the world trade centers.

[Adam @ Sep 4th 2007 5:19PM]

how exactly does an alzheimer's patient 'volunteer' for something? This seems wrong, as if they're using these people as test subjects because they can't do anything about it.

[dosguy @ Sep 5th 2007 8:07AM]

Two words come to mind: slippery slope.