If you are in the middle of a heart attack, do you want your heart to dial 911?


New technology bridging the horizon will soon allow you to use Bluetooth transmitters embedded in your body and then — using a cellular phone or WiFi connection — your body will be able to dial an emergency response team to let them know you are in the middle of a heart attack, even if you are unable to move or speak:

The Bluetooth wireless technology that allows people to use a hands-free earpiece while making a mobile telephone call could soon alert the emergency services when someone has a heart attack, Ofcom predicts.

The communications regulator said that sensors could be implanted into people at risk of heart attack or diabetic collapse that would allow doctors to monitor them remotely.

If the “in-body network” recorded that the person had suddenly collapsed, it would send an alert, via a nearby base station at their home, to a surgery or hospital.

Do you think that same lifesaving Bluetooth technology might be turned against you to track your whereabouts or to even purposefully invoke a heart attack in order to control your behavior that someone else did not like?

2 Comments

  1. Kathakali Chatterjee – Hyderabad, India – Professionally, I have an interesting concoction of experience -- from entertainment industry to retailing to executive education -- the journey is still on. When I don't work, I love to travel, read, listen to music and watch movies.
    Kathakali Chatterjee says:

    Hi David,
    Love the new look!
    I like the option of emergency dialling.
    I think I will trade the choice of being tracked…
    But someone purposefully invoking a heart attck – that’s a bit too risky – I guess.

  2. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    Hi Katha!
    We’re always changing but the content remains the same. SMILE!
    I, too, like the option of one-way emergency dialing. But you know someone will find a way to reverse engineer the implants to make prank calls to 911 or to raise and lower your blood pressure at their will from afar.

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