i'm surprised this video hasn't garnered any strong opinions ...

*puts posting a strong opinion on hold*

Well, seeing as how it's voluntary, I don't really see a problem.

Perhaps Casino Royale made people believe in the upside.

Funny, a few of my friends work at Hackensack Hospital. I would have thought I would have heard of this being implemented.

LadyBug, I'd like to hear your opinions and concerns. I follow RFID developments relatively closely, but I don't really have anything against its use in situations like this. Use is voluntary, and yes laws need to be developed to regulate use of privately-owned medical databases, but that has nothing to do with RFID tag use. (Such a system can be, and I believe is, implemented with other forms of identification like fingerprints and facial recognition.) The story skews the use of the tech, too, since the chip only acts as an identifier and security check with which to access the database online, not as the actual information storage system, so it's not like anybody could just pull records and medical information off the chip. Also, proper security measures (encryption, access limited to cleared hospitals) would ensure privacy.

The benefits of such a system would include making readily available information if the patient is unable to provide it (unconscious, suffering from memory loss, etc.), centralization of medical information, and reduction of patient idenfication/medical record mistakes. The last is actually a bigger problem than people think, doctors screw up because of the paper system all the time.

I'm for centralized medical information databases, and I think the RFID tag is an interesting, although perhaps not the most useful, implementation of the tech in this case. Security through obscurity, even in the medical profession, is a terrible idea, and it makes treating patients that much harder. We are safer with a properly protected, centralized database that is safeguarded through public and private measures.

my opinions and concerns ... i'll keep them brief. while i think the concept of the RFID tag in its most substratal and fundemental form is brilliant, i know it is something that will be abused and vitiated by the nefarious who make decisions in this country.

this isn't so bad, it's the RFID passports and creditcards that bother me.