X-Message-Number: 2493 From: whscad1!kqb (Kevin Q Brown +1 201 386 7344) Subject: CRYONICS Re: Living Wills Message #2474 had a tip from The Immortalist on how to get a free copy of the form for a Living Will appropriate for your state of residence. (It also explained why Living Wills are useful for suspension members.) Today I found a month-old comp.risks message on a patent for a "central depository for living wills." As is usual for many comp.risks postings, I assume that the reader of this message is supposed to infer that "the risks are obvious." For cryonicists, though, the risks are somewhat different than for most people. Kevin Q. Brown INTERNET or ---- RISKS-LIST: RISKS-FORUM Digest Weds 17 November 1993 Volume 15 : Issue 28 FORUM ON RISKS TO THE PUBLIC IN COMPUTERS AND RELATED SYSTEMS ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy, Peter G. Neumann, moderator > Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1993 10:20:26 +0500 > From: (Brian Hawthorne - SunSelect) > Subject: Living Will Database A recent item on the New York Times newswire described a patent granted to Victor Alan Perry (date: 11-14-93 1811EST/category: Financial/ subject: BC PATENTS/title: PATENTS: FAT SUBSTITUTE COULD BURN UP; LIVING WILL DATABASE/author: TERESA RIORDAN). Apparently, Mr. Perry, et alia, have been granted US patent 5,241,466 for a "system for administering a central depository for living wills". He envisions an '800' number that doctors and hospitals can call. The system will then fax back a copy of the appropriate document (living will, durable power of attorney, etc.) for the patient. He would also like to extend the system to be modem-accessible. The purpose of the system is to save some of $10,000,000,000 which is claimed to be spent "for artificial life support of people who did not wish to be kept alive". [That would make an interesting target for computer break-ins! PGN] ---- Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=2493