X-Message-Number: 26659
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 13:54:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: "D. den Otter" <>
Subject: Re: what can I do if I die from Heart Attack?

The NanoAging Institute wrote:

<<I want to know if I am alone and I die with a heart
attack how people will discover me and freeze me ?
What could be my solution of this problem ?>>

Well, the obvious solution would be some kind of
(wearable) deanimation monitor, see
http://www.cryonics.org/personal_alarms.html

I haven't read the whole text, but it seems that all
currently available systems have serious drawbacks.
The Digital Angel wrist monitor / GPS system looked
promising (albeit somewhat expensive), but appears to
have fizzled. Nowadays they only seem to be into
'animal identification' and such. Maybe there are
similar services, but these are likely to be
expensive, cumbersome, and only available in certain
(mostly US) regions. 

Frankly, I don't expect this to change anytime soon,
as the demand for such services is still relatively
limited. It's either your basic panic button stuff for
old folks, or fancy military-grade / VIP monitoring
systems, with not much in between (afaik, anyway).
Maybe it would be worthwile to make our own unit, for
& by the community, using off-the shelf components and
some custom (?) software. 

Deanimation monitoring would, apart from obviously
increasing one's chances of a smooth suspension, also
be good PR for cryonics (by making it look more
professional). 

Possible features:

-Pulse-monitoring wrist unit with panic button,
wirelessly linked to (modified?) cell phone. The
mobile auto-dials a pre-programmed list of numbers
until someone picks up. Also emails or SMSes could be
sent to various additional contacts.

-Panic button abort function / false alarm prevention.
2-button setup, bottons on opposite ends of the
'watch' need be pressed simultaneously for 2 secs or
so to start the countdown sequence. Once activated,
the unit starts bleeping loudly or otherwise attracts
the wearer's attention. Pressing the button again for
2 secs within a ~15 sec window aborts the alert
sequence. The same thing can be done when the unit
auto-triggers (i.e. can't detect a pulse).
 
-Optional backup units around the house, could include
one or several auto-activated webcams. Could either be
wirelessly linked, or autonomous.

-Apparently (certain) cell phones can easily be
converted into GPS tracking units, see for example
http://www.accutracking.com/

-The alert network could either be a totally informal
P2P setup, or a service offered by (one of) the
cryonics organizations.

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