A system for creating, maintaining and selectively accessing medical histories. The system allows a patient and other selected parties to build a medical history, but importantly places the authority to grant access to the medical history solely in the hands of the patient. When the patient's medical history file is created, the patient also pre-authorizes selected parties, including government agencies such as FEMA to have access to at least part of the patient's history. Each selected party is associated with an access module that dictates the level of access the party has to the medical history. Primary care physicians are associated with a full access module, which allows full access to the patient's medical history. Dentists and pharmacies are associated with a limited access module, which limits the party's access to only pertinent portions of the patient's medical history. The present system also includes a fingerprint scanner and/or retina scanner that can be used to identify unconscious patients and patients without an I.D. card.