Emergency responder access via QR code
When a paramedic responds to your unconscious in your living room, they have minutes to make decisions. The Emergency Access feature in After Life lets a first responder pull up your critical info — allergies, medications, advance directive status, emergency contacts — in a couple of seconds by scanning a QR code printed on something you carry or that's posted in your home.
How it works for you (the person):
1. Open /me/afterlife → the Emergency Access tab.
2. Click "Generate emergency token." The platform creates a random opaque token tied to your account.
3. Print one of these via the platform's print kit:
- **Wallet card** — credit-card sized PDF you fold and carry in your wallet. QR code + visible "EMERGENCY ER ACCESS" header.
- **Fridge magnet sticker** — 4" round design for the fridge or fire-safe lockbox. The same QR.
- **Lock screen wallpaper** — image you set as your phone's lock screen showing the QR. First responders are trained to check the lock screen.
The QR code resolves to a public URL: `/er/<token>`. Anyone with the link can see your emergency info.
What the responder sees on /er/<token>:
- Your full legal name
- Date of birth
- Blood type (if you've entered it)
- Allergies (especially drug allergies)
- Current medications
- Medical conditions (epilepsy, diabetes, etc.)
- Whether you have an advance directive (DNR, MOLST/POLST) on file
- Emergency contacts in priority order with phone numbers
- Linked-via-identity-graph contacts who might have power of attorney
What the responder does NOT see (by design):
- Your bank info, account balances, addresses other than the one tied to the call
- Your wishes (memorial preferences, who gets what) — those are about death, not emergency response
- Other people's data who happen to be linked to you (children, etc.)
- Anything you haven't explicitly populated
Privacy of the token:
- Every access is logged (timestamp, IP, user-agent, geolocation if available). You can see who's pulled your record at `/me/afterlife/emergency-log`.
- You can revoke the token at any time. Old printed copies stop working immediately.
- The token is opaque (not your uid, not your email) — finding your record requires the token, not your name.
Hospital HIE integration (selected hospitals):
Some hospital electronic health records (EHRs) can query the emergency endpoint with proper credentials. Where supported (a growing list), the ER attending physician pulls your record through their EHR without needing to scan the QR code. Auto-logged like any other access.
911 phone registry:
Some jurisdictions register your phone number with 911 dispatch so the dispatcher knows you have an emergency record on file. Where supported, dispatch sees a flag and the responding ambulance crew pulls the QR-equivalent at the scene.
What to put in advance:
For Emergency Access to actually help, you need to have entered the info BEFORE the emergency. The most-used fields:
- Allergies (especially "anaphylactic to penicillin" — life-or-death level info).
- Medications (especially anticoagulants — bleeds change ER treatment).
- Pacemaker / implanted device.
- Advance directive status + where the document lives.
- A 24/7 emergency contact who actually answers their phone.