Three Square Market, a Wisconsin based company, has now decided that placing a microchip in their employees is not enough. They now want to place these GPS traceable implants into people with dementia.

The company has revealed that they are currently working on a body-heat powered chip that is voice activated and can monitor a person’s vital signs and track them through a GPS signal.  The plan

is to test it out in 2019 and get approval from the FDA.

The company believes that patients who suffer from dementia are the ideal target for the implant, and that it would surely be a product in demand and a worthy cause.

According to the World Health Organization,  approximately 47 million people across the globe suffer from dementia. By 2030, it is estimated that this number will grow to 75 million.

Six out of ten people that suffer from dementia will wander off at some point, traveling from a safe place into somewhere that they might get lost, and not be able to find their way back.

Clearly, we need an effective way to track down these people for their safety, but is a GPS implant the best possible method?

We already have shoes and bracelets that patients with dementia can wear to make sure that they are found if they get lost, which don’t rely on GPS, but rely rather on a radio frequency.  It requires a battery, but it does not need to be changed too often.

When it comes to the GPS implant, it also raises the issue of personal autonomy. For people with dementia, they loose their memory, meaning they can’t truly and fully consent to having the implant put inside of them.

So although it might seem the most logical solution to this growing issue, we might want save these implants for people who know what they’re getting themselves into.