A chip implanted under your skin could soon let your doctor tap into your medical records. It could prove critical if you're ever rushed unconscious to a hospital.

E - News Sign-Up   Health Headlines More E-Mail News

If you're in a medical emergency, doctors need to know crucial information quickly. And you could be unable to communicate.

"We saw over 6,000 trauma patients just at Harborview this year. That's a huge number of patients. A lot of those people aren't carrying around their full ID when they're hit by a car or fall off their bicycle," said Chris Martin, Emergency Room Director at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Slideshow

MORE ON THIS STORY Verichip Website

The chip is as small as a grain of rice and it could give emergency room staff that information with the wave of a wand.

It's the same kind of technology used in chips that already track pets.

Now the Food and Drug Administration has approved the implantable chips for carrying medical information in humans.

The maker hopes to market the chips at about $200 apiece to people with health problems that cause them to be disoriented or black out.

But the device could also save families from agonizing worry about a loved one.

"It is not at all uncommon for us to spend hours and sometimes days trying to get someone identified," said Martin.

The chips aren't on the market yet.