NJ hospital goes high-tech with baby identification

A Middlesex County hospital is the first in the tristate region to go high-tech when it comes to identifying newborns.
Saint Peter’s Hospital in New Brunswick now offers CertaScan Technologies digital footprints for babies.
“[Parents] worry about things happening in the future,” says charge nurse Deborah Ford-Thompson. “They worry about abduction, they worry about disasters, and this positively identifies their child.”
In addition to the footprints, the service also includes taking a photo of the baby’s face, along with the mother’s fingerprints. If there is a mix-up in the hospital, this will allow baby and mother to be matched.
Pamela Harmon, director of women and children’s services at the hospital, says that the hospital anticipated privacy concerns from parents and says the information is secure.
“It’s 100 percent protected for any health information,” she says. “It does not have names or birthdates attached to it.”
About 40 hospitals around the country have already started using this technology.