X-Message-Number: 12015
Date: Sun, 27 Jun 1999 01:27:37 -0400
From: "Stephen W. Bridge" <>
Subject: Alcor Patient Care Trust
To CryoNet
From Steve Bridge, Chairman
Board of Directors
Alcor Life Extension Foundation
June 26, 1999
ALCOR'S BOARD MAKES PATIENT CARE TRUST IRREVOCABLE
"The Trust shall be for the exclusive non-profit scientific research
and educational purpose of providing care for individuals (hereinafter
called "Patients") who have been placed into cryonic suspension or other
forms of biostasis as long-term research specimens by Alcor until such
future time as it may be possible to repair and revive them to such a
condition as will allow them to be considered legally alive, functional,
and independent. This applies both to those Patients currently held in
biostasis at Alcor and to those Patients who may be placed into biostasis
after this Trust has been established."
At the May 2, 1999 bimonthly meeting of Alcor's Board of Directors,
Alcor's Board voted unanimously to make the Alcor Patient Care Trust
irrevocable. This is the final step in a seven-year quest to provide
multiple layers of security to the funds allotted to the care of Alcor's
suspended patients.
This Trust is a unique Arizona charitable trust, formed under the
umbrella of Alcor. It shares Alcor's tax-exempt status; but is a separate
legal entity. The Trust document allows the Trust Board to apply for
separate tax status in the future, should that become desirable.
The reasons for the Trust are to make sure that the Patient Care
funds are only spent for expenses relating to patient care, and to protect
that money (and the ability to keep patients frozen) from lawsuits which
could target it. If there was no way to protect that money from the
potential of future misuse or litigation, then all of our patients --
*including ourselves someday* -- would be at risk.
The trustee of the Patient Care Trust is a Board of five Alcor
members, at least three of whom MUST be related to patients in suspension
at Alcor. One and only one individual Trustee must be a member of Alcor's
Board of Directors. The individual Trustees are appointed by the Alcor
Board to staggered five-year terms. Once the trustees are elected, they
are difficult to remove, and a number of safeguards and checks/balances
are in place to safeguard the Trust Board's independence.
Two years ago, on May 4, 1997, Alcor's Board passed a final form of
the Trust and placed our Patient Care investments into it. Since this
Trust form was created especially for Alcor and we had no experience with
what kind of practical problems it might present, the Board at that time
chose to make it "revocable" and comparatively easy to amend for two
years. "Revocable" means Alcor's Board could cancel it at any time.
Making the Trust "Irrevocable" means that the Alcor Board cannot ever
*cancel* the Trust until the purposes of the Trust are fulfilled. Since
the purposes of the Trust can be summarized as "keep all the patients
frozen until they can all be repaired and revived;" this Trust is going to
be in existence for a long time.
We did amend the Trust in two small ways before making it
irrevocable. We re-wrote some unclear language concerning who was to
manage the Trust's investments, and Alcor's Board and Trust Board were
given a little bit more flexibility (but carefully limited) on how to fill
a vacant Trust Board seat in the unlikely event that a qualified patient
relative cannot be found.
The Trust can be amended in the future, but only "if amendment of the
Trust is necessary to accomplish the purposes of the Trust" and only by
the combined unanimous vote of Alcor's Board and the Trust Board. It
cannot be amended in any way that would change the purpose of the Trust.
The Trust cannot be revoked.
Current Trustees are
Gary Meade (Alcor Director, patient relative, and a corporate attorney)
Warren Robertson (patient relative and a CPA)
Robert Schwarz (patient relative)
Carlos Mondragon (former Alcor Director and former President of Alcor)
David Brandt-Erichsen.
In the past two years, we have seen impressive growth in the Trust
investments, even though we have had no new suspensions in the past two
years. (Alcor places at least $14,000 into the Trust for each
neuropatient and at least $70,000 into the Trust for each whole body
patient.) Fortunately, the Trust holds the mortgage for the building that
houses Alcor and its patients. All patient care expenses have been more
than covered by the mortgage payments alone, allowing the rest of the
Trust investments (primarily stock and bond investments managed by Salomon
Smith Barney) to grow untouched. We anticipate that future growth in the
Trust investments will allow the Trust to fund research into the
technology of patient repair and resuscitation. The more optimistic among
us predict that the growth in those investment funds during the next few
decades will be enough to pay for the entire patient revival procedure.
One of the most important questions that people ask us is "What
happens to the patients when (or if) you run out of money someday?"
Believe me, every one of us Directors have asked ourselves the same
question every year we have been involved in cryonics (more than 20 years
each for three of us, more than 10 years each for four others). Now I
feel a lot more confident in answering, "It is very unlikely we will ever
run out of money to keep the patients frozen."
The full text of the Trust is available from Alcor -- $3.00 for Alcor
suspension members and people in the sign-up process; $18.00 for all
others. The extra $15.00 will be a donation to the Patient Care Trust to
help cover some of the legal costs. Anyone who pays the $18.00 and enters
Alcor's sign-up process within 6 months will receive a $15.00 credit
against his or her sign-up fee.
For a history of how the Trust was put together from 1992 to 1997 and
a summary of the Trust, see CRYONICS Magazine 3rd Quarter, 1997.
Call Brian Shock or Joe Hovey at Alcor. 602-905-1906 or toll-free
877-462-5267.
Steve Bridge
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