BehindTheMedspeak: Medic Alert Bracelets

Tens of millions of Americans are afflicted with conditions that warrant wearing a Medic Alert bracelet — a "no–tech" but potentially lifesaving tool.

From epilepsy to diabetes to hemophilia, many conditions are unknowable until it's too late.

California–based non–profit Medic Alert estimates that no more than four million people world–wide participate in its program, fewer today than a decade ago.

Along with a Medic Alert bracelet comes an 800–number service that provides contacts and medical records to doctors in an emergency.

ER physicians say the reason so few people wear a Medic Alert bracelet is because their physicians don't recommend them, either because of an oversight or because doctors believe wearing a tag is a personal rather than a medical decision.

In any case, wrote Kevin Helliker in an April 5, 2005 Wall Street Journal article, "many patients with potentially fatal drug allergies or other dangerous conditions have never been advised to wear a bracelet."

Helliker continued, "The American Medical Association has never issued a statement recommending the bracelets, even though its own publication, the Journal of the American Medical Association, has published several research articles concluding that the bracelets are crucial for patients with allergies to drugs and food, or other disorders."

Medic Alert bracelets bear a medical insignia on the front and on the back a brief message detailing the wearer's diagnosis, along with an 800–number to call for more detailed medical information.

The bracelets and necklaces cost about $15 and the 24–hour information service costs $35 the first year, $20 annually after that.

Medic Alert was founded in 1956 but hasn't marketed itself very well, Helliker concluded.

In addition, patients have qualms about privacy and wearing a bracelet that broadcasts "medical problem" and can lead to unwanted attention.

Also, the bracelets themselves look primitive and cheap.

In response to this complaint Medic Alert is upgrading its offerings.

So stop diddling around with your own life or that of a loved one: go here and sign up, already.