X-Message-Number: 2171
Subject: CRYONICS: patient orientation in storage
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1993 23:00:07 -0400
From: "Perry E. Metzger" <>


> From: Brian Wowk <>
> 
>         I don't like storing patients horizontally because patients on 
> the bottom would have too much weight on top of them.  You could use a 
> cassette system to protect patients from this weight, but then you 
> lose all the space advantages of placing patients in contact with each 
> other.
>  
>         Storing patients vertically also makes inventory simpler.  I 
> believe that having all your patients visible (albeit in their 
> sleeping bags) is important for legal and accoutability reasons.

None of these answer my question, which is "is horizontal storage
better for long term patient integrity?"  Given that horizontal live
people stored in beds for a while develop bed sores, I wonder what
horizontal storage of frozen humans does in terms of damage, let along
vertical storage. My gut is that since we simply don't know what
happens to a human after being frozen for 150 years, we should go with
the most conservative possible stressing of the patient -- and
horizontal is demonstrably less stressing than vertical. I agree that
having cassettes for the patients is a pain and lowers storage volume
-- but on the other hand our first concern has to be to obey the
Hippocratic dictum "first, do no harm", does it not?

I admit to being less than knowledgeable on this subject, so I'd like
to hear what Brian has to say to directly address this question, that
is, which is better for the patients (we know that vertical storage is
better from the logistical point of view -- but then again, to be
crude, so is burial).  Perhaps an experiment or two would be in order?
Perhaps Mike Darwin could comment on apparent vertical storage
stresses, if any, in the patients he neuroconverted and then
autopsied? I'd be especially interested to know how their spinal
columns and other long structures held up after prolonged vertical
storage.

Perry

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