X-Message-Number: 12370
From: "Scott Badger" <>
References: <>
Subject: Re: premortem cryonics
Date: Sun, 5 Sep 1999 09:14:10 -0500

Bob Ettinger wrote:

> In terms of near-future, practical measures, if you or a family member are
> terminal and want to initiate cryopreservation, my suggestion is as
follows.
> Die in a state that does not have a law against suicide (even though it
may
> have a law against assisted suicide, as in Michigan). Make prior
arrangements
> with the Medical Examiner, and have him or a representative present when
the
> patient (unassisted) commits suicide by an appropriate method. Obtain the
> Medical Examiner's prior assurance that he will sign the death certificate
> and waive autopsy.....I'm not saying that locating a cooperative Medical
> Examiner will be easy, but it MIGHT be possible, if handled carefully.

Interesting.

Does anyone already have a list of those states in which suicide is not
illegal?

And shouldn't we attempt to establish alliances with a few medical examiners
across the country now instead of each cryonicist having to seek one out
individually at a point when time may be very precious?

I would imagine that any medical examiner who would agree to oversee an
unassisted suicide would probably insist that most of the same parameters
required in Oregon with the assisted suicide law be observed.  And that's OK
with me.  We certainly don't want people choosing to deanimate and be
cryopreserved for relatively frivolous reasons (e.g. a serious mood disorder
or a chronic but non-deadly medical condition like quadraplegia or severe
arthritis).

But we still have a serious problem in the case where one contracts a
degenerative brain disease such as Alzheimer's.  From our perspective, it's
imperative that the brain be cryopreserved before its neural integrity /
identity is ravaged by these degenerative disorders.  One thing that may
complicate this problem is that (and i may be wrong here) Alzheimers is not
nearly as terminal as it used to be.  My mother has been kept alive far
longer than the original prognosis because of newly developed drugs that
appear to greatly slow the degeneration.  So where can a cryonicist go who
has been diagnosed with a degenerative brain disorder, and who also has the
considerable courage it would take to voluntarily deanimate?

Scott Badger

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