Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), is a wireless technology system made up of readers and tags. The reader component of the RFID is composed of antennas that transmit radio waves and collect signals emitted by the RFID tag ( Robinson et al., 2016) . Some of the uses of the RFID include tracking, identifying and locating objects. The RFID accomplishes the tasks through using an interrogator (reader) and a transponder (tag). The tags are embedded onto physical objects such as medical devices, medicine containers, vehicles, envelopes hospital room equipment, packages among others ( Kiourti, 2018) . Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) can also be implanted into animals and humans. The Food and Drug Administration agency in the United States approved an RFID device that can be implanted under a patient’s skin to store an individual’s medical identifier. The potential of implanting RFID device in US citizens has sparked widespread discourse due to the issues surrounding patient safety. This reports explores the pros and cons of using implanted RFID as well as assesses pertinent ethical, legal and social implications. The report also discusses the populations who would benefit from the use of RFID and proposes policies to safeguard patients with an implanted RFID device.
Body of Analysis
Pros and Cons
The RFID implanted devices help in identifying patients leading to improved safety and efficiency of patient care. The device if implanted will serve as a medical identifier by revealing the patients’ medical data within a split of a second. The RFID device would be particularly useful to Alzheimer patients whose ability to give their medical history is impaired. Other patients who would benefit include individuals prone to syncope or persons rendered no communicative due to an injury.
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The implanted RFID devices have a potential of adversely impacting a patient’s privacy even beyond the medical arena. Individuals with implanted RFID device can surreptitiously be tracked by any person with a generic RFID reader ( Rahman et al., 2017) . In addition, the RFID chip has a relatively small amount of read and write storage. As such, the storage capacity is insufficient for archiving significant medical data and can only store patient identifier. If deployed, the devices can provide an incentive for ill-intentioned parties to accomplish ulterior motives which makes the gadget more invasive ( Jebali et al., 2016) . For example, the government and security firms can leverage on the devices for ubiquitous surveillance. Also, the RFID device poses a medical risk including pain, reaction to the local anesthetic, infection and keloid formation at the implanted site.
Use of Smart Devices
Some of the smart devices used in my daily life include smartphones, smartwatches, smart cars, smart keychains, smart refrigerators phablets and tablets. I use smartphones for communication purposes that is, voice and video calls, sending and receiving messages, emails and taking photographs. Smartphones are also commonly used to browse internet and in paying for goods and services. Smartwatches are used as fitness trackers by enabling a person to keep up with fitness goals. I use smart refrigerators to keep track of the expiry and usage of items stored.
Besides being used in the healthcare sector to identify patients through implanted gadgets, the RFID technology has been incorporated by the society in multiple ways. The technology is employed in the supply chain management for inventory control. Retail outlets such as supermarkets have adopted RFID to manage their inventories. The technology is also used in animal tracking and for instant payments. RFID has been incorporated by various agencies such as security firms and the government for surveillance and security purposes.
Legal, Ethical, Social Implications
Some of the legal implications to consider relate to the custody of the personal data collected. Decisions should be made on the party responsible for data processing. The distance from which the RFID tags can be read is also a legal implication to consider. Privacy and informed consent also have legal implications if a patient is not informed about the purpose of transmitted data or if the device is implanted against the individual’s will.
Ethical implications worthy of considerations relate to the accessibility of stored information and privacy of patients. Additional considerations pertain informed consent and the purpose for which the stored data will be used. Failure to make disclosure of the usage of data transmitted and not seeking informed consent when implanting the RFID devices has ethical implications ( Hofmann, 2013) . Confidentiality of the stored data warrants ethical considerations since disclosure of stored information to unauthorized parties has ethical implications.
Potential social implications that should be considered include social discrimination which would result following unauthorized access of a patient’s data. Additional social implications include publication of potentially sensitive medical data and loss of health coverage. Chip carriers have a risk of being dubbed hybrid humans, machines or social outcasts.
Populations who would benefit from RFID
Alzheimer patients experience inability to give their medical history due to memory impairment. As such, implanted RFID would help transmit their details for treatment purposes. Patients who are prone to syncope may be unconscious during an emergency visit. Implanted devices would assist during the emergency situations ( Werber et al., 2018) . Individuals who indulge in extreme sport activities are vulnerable to injuries and may be rendered non-communicative. The individuals would benefit immensely from the RFID implants during injuries.
Addressing Redundancy
A data filtering approach can be applied to efficiently detect and get rid of redundant information such as duplicate readings from the RFID data streams. A policy on data filtering such as use of anti-collision algorithm can be applied to avoid redundancies. A health care provider can access patient’s data by an identifier that is usually stored securely in a separate database. Patients however have a limited access to the information stored due to lack of a scanner. Upon request, a patient can gain access of the data through the help of a healthcare provider.
Policies to Incorporate
A privacy policy should be incorporated to safeguard patients with implanted RFID devices. The guideline should emphasize that patient medical data is a private property and should not be treated as such always ( Werber et al., 2018) . Information disclosure policy would be vital in protecting patient data from unauthorized parties. Informed consent policy should be incorporated stating that permission must always be solicited prior to accessing the data on RFID devices and database ( Rahman et al., 2017) . Data use policy should be incorporated outlining the ways which patient information should be used. The policy ought to emphasize that patient data must only be used for medical purposes.
Conclusion/Recommendations
The regulating agency in the United States should develop a framework that evaluates the influence of implanted FRID devices on patient’s protection and privacy. The framework would enable users of RFID to assess their technologies with respect to their implications. Health care providers should always ensure that RFID chips are deactivated when clients are within shops to avoid surreptitious surveillance by retail business owners. RFID Data protection users should be obligated to publish guidelines on usage of RFID, names of users, purpose of use and potential privacy risks. Health care providers should always seek informed consent prior to implanting the RFID devices and when intending to access or disclose the client’s data.
References
Jebali, N., Beldi, S., & Gharsallah, A. (2016, December). RFID antennas implanted for pervasive healthcare applications. In 2016 7th International Conference on Sciences of Electronics, Technologies of Information and Telecommunications (SETIT) (pp. 149-152). IEEE.
Kiourti, A. (2018). RFID antennas for body-area applications: From wearables to implants. IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine , 60 (5), 14-25.
Hofmann, B. (2013). Ethical challenges with welfare technology: a review of the literature. Science and engineering ethics , 19 (2), 389-406.
Rahman, F., Bhuiyan, M. Z. A., & Ahamed, S. I. (2017). A privacy preserving framework for RFID based healthcare systems. Future generation computer systems , 72 , 339-352.
Robinson, J., Starr, J., & Vass, J. (2016). Implementation of Radio-Frequency Identification in Hospitals.
Werber, B., Baggia, A., & Žnidaršič, A. (2018). Factors affecting the intentions to use RFID subcutaneous microchip implants for healthcare purposes. Organizacija , 51 (2), 121-133.
