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Comment by cwilson | Hacker News Reader

The title is, of course, misleading. They are offering employees a microchip implant. It's not required.

Still crazy that anyone would opt-in to do this, but a misleading headline all the same.

I don't see any immediate problem with that assuming taking it out is relatively painless and there's no cost associated.

I'd like to have one so I wouldn't have to worry if I have office keys with me, instead I could just scan my arm at the door. I've never left my hand at home.

Its still a medical procedure and has anyone done an analysis of the risks ok we do it to pets but fido isn't going to sue you if bad stuff happens.

Maybe this is different since I'm coming from non-US point of view so health care is quite different. To me it's obvious that employer's insurance covers implanting, removal, and any issues that it might cause.

The employer might no longer exist (IMO, the probability that a company that does these kinds of experiments goes bankrupt is far from negligible), deny responsibility ("you should have let us take it out when you left the company"), or not pay for all costs (say, you moved state; will they pay travel costs to their appointed expert? Pay for time lost?)

your country of origin shouldn't matter. I'm pretty sure he/she was concerned about health related medical risks, and just because the insurance 'covers' it, provides little solace

What's the worst thing that can happen? It gets infected and needs to be removed and I have to take up to few months of paid sick leave?

Maybe I'm missing something, but all in all this is convenience vs pain value comparison. Does the pain the implant might inflict outweigh the possible benefits.

I bet there is something I'm not considering or I'm misunderstanding something. To me this is pretty straight forward for now.

If you get sepsis or rare complications it can be fatal we had a intern who broke his leg at a company cricket match and he was dead before morning.

If it is my time to die then I will die. I don't think we should steer away from something because it is not 100% safe. Like I drive my car each day which is by no means 100% safe.

its a matter of trade-offs and choice. to me, a .000001 chance of a complication is not worth it vs 'just carry a card in your wallet'.

driving a car has many risks, and if I could opt for a card in my wallet as an alternative I certainly would.

I am curious to how old are you roughly? it seems like you are stating you can get a medical complication, take a few weeks sick leave and return to your life, which makes me think you are <25

It really depends what you mean by "medical complication". If we are assuming that we are getting the implant at hospital by a qualified physician risks are already at minimum.

Most likely "complications" would be body rejecting the implant or the wound getting infected. I've had foreign objects in my body (not by choice), they were removed because the wound got infected. I was monitoring the wound, once I thought it didn't look/feel normal I went to clinic and got it checked. Over all I wasn't out of commission for even full four weeks.

even minor complications can result in life changing injuries and in the USA a massive hospital bill

You can not control everything. Obviously everyone would prefer to be healthy to being sick or crippled, but getting implant like this is hardly the most dangerous thing people do.

Since I'm not American I can't obviously speak for you. For me money wouldn't be an issue since it would be obvious in this case that the company would bare all the medical costs involved caused by the implant.

I dunno, I'm surprised you thought it was mandatory. Pretty confident in the state of Wisconsin you cannot force someone who does not have life threatening ailments surgery.

The original title is "Wisconsin Company To Implant Microchips In Employees", which is different from the current "Wisconsin Company To Offer To Implant Microchips In Employees".

The difference is not so subtle; atfirst I assumed too that it was mandatory.

Obviously you cannot physically force them, but that doesn't mean it can't be a condition for employment. No being familiar with Wisconsin law, I wouldn't know if that's allowed.

http://www.piercingtime.com/images/323/silver-dermal-third-e...

If there's no law that disallows employers to ask for this, it will be mandatory in a matter of years.

It's illegal to require employees to have microchip implants in several states, including Wisconsin.

That's a little extreme...

See also: mandatory arbitration clauses, non-competes for blue collar jobs, and "opt-out" data collection.

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