X-Message-Number: 2193
From:
Subject: CRYONICS: Hostile Relatives
Date: Sun, 2 May 93 01:00:25 PDT
To Cryonet
>From Steve Bridge, President
Alcor Life Extension Foundation
May 1, 1993
In response to: Message: #2162 - Recalcitrant relatives
Mon, 26 Apr 93 18:33:06 -0400
From:
>I suspect that someone who has actually had battles with relatives
>about this would have more well-tested advice.
With twenty-seven patients in suspension, Alcor has had quite a lot
of experience dealing with relatives of suspension patients. Even with
friendly, cooperative relatives there can be many problems. One of the
biggest problems that most people don't consider is that even friendly
relatives (on average) don't know much about cryonics. They don't
understand what the procedures include, what kinds of cooperation we
need from hospital, nursing home, or family, and they don't understand
why we hang around the patient for several days, asking nosy questions
about the patient's blood pressure, temperature, enzyme levels, etc. We
need this information to estimate when the patient might deanimate, so
we 1) don't waste time and money by getting to the patient's side days
early, and 2) so we can be prepared and ready to act right away when the
physician (or nurse, in some cases) pronounces death.
This prediction can be remarkably difficult in the best of
circumstances. Several years ago I was on a transport (home hospice)
which included Mike Darwin and Jerry Leaf and where the patient had a
competent and attentive full-time nurse. When I awoke in the morning, I
asked if I should take a shower. "Sure," I was told. "Nothing will
happen for a while yet." As soon as I was in the shower, the patient
stopped breathing.
In our experience with families, it is difficult for them to face
the fact that their relative is dying. We have found the families are
reluctant to ask the physician for detailed information or extra tests
which might give Alcor personnel critical information for predicting
when our services will be needed. They may even ask for inappropriate
(by our criteria) measures to be taken to prolong the life of a clearly
terminal patient.
Up until about two years, Alcor required that prospective members
out a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care to complete their
suspension arrangements. ["Durable" is a required term -- it means
that it takes effect when the patient becomes incompetent to manage
his own health care.] We stopped making it a *sign-up* requirement;
but still intended
It is now our recommendation (not a "requirement" yet; but we are
considering it) that a Patient's Durable Power of Attorney for Health
Care (the "Durable" is a necessary part of that document) give authority
for medical care to someone who is a cryonicist and not a relative.
This person with authority is sometimes called a "medical surrogate."
If you have a relative who is a cryonicist, that will often be okay.
But it is a poor idea in most cases to give that power to a relative,
who may not understand your needs. Having even well-intentioned non-
cryonicists making members' medical decisions has sometimes led to less-
than ideal suspensions, including longer ischemic times and
inappropriate medical care.
We have a list of Alcor members who are willing to act as
Attorneys-in-fact for a D.P.A. for Health Care for other Alcor members.
The preferred choice, though, is a cryonicist you trust who lives close
enough to you to be available to act as your medical surrogate and who
knows you well enough to understand what decisions you would want to
make.
As far as actively hostile relatives go, Alcor's paperwork tries to
eliminate their authority over the patient by making the transfer of the
patient's remains to Alcor an anatomical donation, under the terms of
the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act. This mechanism has been affirmed by
the courts in California. Also, California law requires relatives and
the state to recognize an individual's right to choose what happens to
their own remains (as long as funding is provided and as long as public
health is not endangered). Several court decisions have affirmed that
this right includes cryonic suspension patients.
We are looking for ways to strengthen our paperwork even more in
this regard.
Some suspension members have tried to protect themselves from the
potential of hostile relatives by not telling anyone about cryonics.
Bad idea! As I wrote in a recent article in Cryonics magazine (and as I
have stated various times over the years):
*****
We (that means YOU and ALCOR both) need to spend more time
informing relatives about cryonics. Sure, it's hard for us to
explain why we want cryonic suspension, why we want to see the
future, and what these cryonicists are going to do when they
stand by waiting for us to stop breathing. Heck, it's hard
enough to face such things ourselves, without having to explain
cryonics from the bottom up to our families. But if you are
*serious* about staying alive, you had better work up a little
nerve and proceed.
"I've even heard it said that, "I couldn't tell my family
that I'm signed up for cryonics. They would be too upset."
(Hidden thought: "they might reject me.") Well, friends,
they're going to be a lot more upset when a few strangers show
up at the hospital with a lot of formidable equipment and
announce that they are hauling your body off to California to
be frozen. And you probably think that WE should explain
Neurosuspension to them also, right? ("And then we perform the
cephalic isolation." "The what?" "We cut off little Freddie's
head, ma'am." "AAACKK!") It is MUCH better for you to do this
NOW, while you are still around to answer questions, to hug
your family, and to send a few more years of Christmas cards."
*****
We have tried to do more this year to help relatives understand
cryonics and their role in the suspension; but we have much more to do.
We hope in the next few months to develop letters and pamphlets
especially written for relatives.
>What practical steps can I take to make my suspension likely?
This was asked by Rich Schroeppel, and Tim felt like an answer was
too long and complex for him to tackle right now. It is for me also.
However, we are currently working on a letter that will be given to all
new members when they sign up which helps to answer this question. I
anticipate that we will make an initial mailing to all Alcor members.
Also, about four years ago, I wrote an article titled "Home Town
Cryonics" for Cryonics magazine. This article gave many specific
suggestions for what one can do to prepare for a suspension in one's own
area. I could post it in a special file if there is interest.
>going to use a power tool to cut your head off.
A minor point, but we don't normally use power tools to effect
cephalic isolation (thus, the "Texas Cephalic Isolation Device Massacre"
is a figment of the imagination). [Don't put the macabre humor in the
FAQ, please.]
>6-12. How can I persuade my spouse to cooperate with my suspension
> arrangements?
I posted a long answer to this on the Cryonet about a year ago.
Maybe Kevin can find it. It might add something to what you wrote from
your experience.
<Decide who owns your body. If your spouse owns your body, then you'll
>have to settle for no cryonics. If you own your body, then do
>cryonics and try to make your spouse deal with the resulting negative
>emotions instead of you. If you and your spouse have shared ownership
>of your body, then the two of you will have interminable arguments
>about it; I therefore disrecommend this option.
"you own your own body" is legally impossible after you are
declared legally dead; you can't own anything. Actually, the laws of
the various states determine who owns your body -- or at least who has
the authority to dispose of it. For you to CHANGE that authority, you
have to do something active. This appears to be solved by the
Anatomical Donation to Alcor. PERSUADING your spouse that this solves
the problem is an entirely different story, of course. A hostile
relative or spouse can effectively prevent your suspension or delay it
for a very long time by simply not informing Alcor that you are dead or
dying. Of course, if they don't even know you are signed up, they won't
call Alcor either. We don't have a radio-powered heart monitor attached
to those Alcor tags, folks.
Steve Bridge
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