A safety device and procedure for use in correlating a patient and an
intended surgical procedure uses a micro-chip programmed with specific
information about the patient and the surgery. Part of the information
lists an authorized person that may remove the micro-chip. The micro-chip
is attached to the patient at the anatomical location of the intended
surgery. The chip is scanned to retrieve the information before surgery
and if the patient and the surgery are correlated, a printout is placed
in the patient's chart. The authorized person removes the chip and
surgery proceeds.