By Andrew Jack in London
Published: September 21 2009 23:06 | Last updated: September 21 2009 23:06
Patients who fail to pop pills on time could soon benefit from having a chip on their shoulder, under a ground-breaking electronic system being developed by Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceuticals group.
The company is testing technology that inserts a tiny microchip into each pill swallowed and sends a reminder to patients by text message if they fail to follow their doctors’ prescriptions.
OK as someone chronically ill I felt I really needed to say something about this Microchip pill. I understand the benefits for some patients who don’t take their medication and still go to the doctor expecting to get better, or have some type of neurological condition that keeps them from remembering to take their medication but for many patients it seems like one more invasion of privacy. In so many instances when you are in chronic pain there are blanket policy’s to not only test the levels of your medications in your system to see if you’re taking your meds but to see if you’re drinking or using marijuana for pain control which if you go to any pain clinic is not allowed understandably. They often do these tests instead of getting to actually know their patient knowing whether or not that person is reliable. I foresee some doctors just adding another now microchip pill to their patients list of pills instead of actually forming a trusting doctor patient relationship to help the patient get better. The trust between a doctor and a patient is absolutely pivotal.
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