X-Message-Number: 1160 From: (Nick Szabo) Newsgroups: sci.cryonics,misc.legal Subject: Pre-legal death suspension Message-ID: <> Date: 21 Aug 92 10:24:09 GMT References: <> In article <> (kevin.q.brown) writes: > In Indiana we had one major advantage: our patient was not human. >One of the biggest problems for cryonics has always been that we cannot >schedule suspensions. Even where a patient is clearly terminal with only >days or hours before cardiac arrest, we cannot do anything to hasten that >person's entrance into cryonic suspension without being charged with >homicide. Mike's dog Mitzi was certainly in a condition where most pet >owners would have had her "put to sleep." We would, indeed, "put her to >sleep" with anesthesia; but our intention was to drop her temperature >until her heart stopped and then proceed down to liquid nitrogen >temperature (-320 degrees F or -196 C). There is at least one state, Michigan, where physician-assisted suicide, eg that practiced by Jack Kavorkian, is legal. Has a cryonics organization considered trying this procedure on terminally ill members in places where it is legal? Have you discussed this issue with people in the "right to die" movement? How are U.S. courts in general interpreting the recent Michigan case that aquitted Kavorkian? -- Public Access User --- Not affiliated with TECHbooks Public Access UNIX and Internet at (503) 644-8135 (1200/2400, N81) Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=1160