Chips spark ethics concerns

By Emily Berry, Staff Writer
The Chattanooga Times Free Press

Chattanooga, TN - Medical ethics experts are questioning a proposal 
to implant medical identification microchips in the arms of
developmentally disabled clients at Orange Grove Center.

"That's pretty disturbing and kind of surprising in that anyone would
allow that to occur," said Dr. Stuart Finder, a director at the Center
for Biomedical Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University Medical
Center.

"Typically, the idea of using vulnerable people -- children, disabled
people, pregnant women, prisoners, a whole variety of categories -- we
normally say that's not a good idea," Dr. Finder said.

Dr. Rick Rader, director of the Morton J. Kent Habilitation Center at
Orange Grove Center, is advocating cooperation in a study with the
maker of the VeriMed implantable device. He arranged meetings Thursday
and today for one of the company's physicians with leaders at Orange
Grove and Erlanger hospital.

Dr. Rader said VeriChip Corp., the Delray Beach, Fla., company that
manufactures the device, has agreed to provide free implants for as
many as 100 Orange Grove clients. The clients would be the subjects in
the first group study of the application of the device, which normally
costs $200, he said.

Dr. Rader and other Orange Grove medical committee members said they
thought the implants were a good idea. They said they would have to
proceed with care and discuss ethical questions that arise.

The VeriMed device works in much the same way as implantable
identification tags for pets, Dr. Richard Seelig, VeriChip vice
president for medical applications, said.

He said implantable devices have been used for millions of animals
over the past 13 years. The implants for human beings were approved 
by the Federal Drug Administration in October 2004, he said.

Dr. Seelig told Erlanger and Orange Grove officials Thursday that 
the implants could keep disabled people safe in case they are lost 
or injured and cannot identify themselves to emergency workers or
doctors.

"What we're trying to do is level the playing field," he said. "If 
you and I can give this information, why can't they?"

Carol Westlake, executive director of the Tennessee Disability
Coalition, said the idea of implants is "troubling."

"The history of abuse of people with mental retardation requires us 
to be extraordinarily cautious that we don't let those things happen
again," she said.

Ms. Westlake and Dr. Finder said it would be less problematic to do 
a group study of adults who are able to give unambiguous informed
consent.

However, Dr. Rader said that not using the implants to benefit and
protect the disabled would be a disservice to his clients, would deny
their personhood and abridge their right to participate in society.

"The advocates would be on my case if we weren't doing this," he said.

Dr. Seelig said the plan would require participation of area medical
facilities, whose personnel would require training to scan for the
chips and find medical information once a patient's identification
number is found.

He said VeriChip would provide equipment and training to hospitals 
and other medical facilities at no cost.

Dr. Seelig spoke to Erlanger physicians at the hospital Thursday
morning, but none of the physicians there asked about potential
ethical implications in using the microchips in vulnerable
populations.

A meeting with the hospital's institutional review board scheduled 
for Thursday fell through when none of the members showed up, Erlanger
spokeswoman Jan Powell said.

Copyright The Chattanooga Times Free Press

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Source: "Raiders News Updates" - http://www.raidersnewsupdate.com/


Cheers, Steve..

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