Tagging Alzheimer's Patients?

A very serious debate is occurring down in Florida (yes, again). The issue now: embedding Alzheimer's patients at an adult-care facility with an identity chip that contains the patient's medical records which can be scanned should they be taken to the emergency room.

Aside from the risk (the chips need to be embedded into the person's skin and one risk would be the body's adverse reaction to it), many are questioning whether it is ethically correct.

According to the article "Do Chip Implants Protect or Violate Privacy?," the facility seeks the permission of family members or the patients themselves, if they are deemed competent, before they embed the chip. However, many are concerned that the patients will be enrolled in a "potentially risky study without their consent". And that may be the problem at the heart of it - embedding this particular chip is still an experiment - one that has not been reviewed by a review board yet.

As one person pointed out, there are other less invasive methods of taking your medical records with you.