An infusion data communication system provides a communication link among a fluid container, an infusion pump, and a patient through which identification data may be communicated. Data devices are located at the fluid container and the patient and conduct low frequency RF energy at a low power level containing the data into the medical fluid. The data-laden RF energy propagates through the medication fluid to data readers at the infusion pump which receives the RF energy and reads the data. A comparison is made to verify that the right medication is mounted to the infusion pump for administration to the right patient. RFID devices may be used for the data devices and readers. Pump programming data may also be propagated to the infusion pump from the container RFID tag. The RFID device at the patient may be writable and may be used to store a patient MAR.
