X-Message-Number: 26799
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 09:45:53 -0400
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: 2nd opinion on warning time before death

For Marta:

Many years ago, when I was doing my best to interest Australians in
cryonics, I put out a bibliography of work relevant to us, together
with my own comments on it. In looking for material I found a book,
by A. Cartwright, LIFE BEFORE DEATH. She looked at the fate of a
large number of patients, and found that in 83% of cases the dying
patient has a warning time of as much as 1 week.

The refs on neuroscience have by now become obsolete. However many
other things aren't. Since Cartwright actually did a statistical
survey, her results may still remain more valid than those in the
NY Times article you tell of. One thing to watch out for, of course,
is that many physicians give their dying patients optimistic 
conclusions even when it's clear to these doctors that the patient
doesn't have much time to live. That is, of course, exactly what 
WE don't want.

               Best wishes and long long life for all,

                    Thomas Donaldson

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=26799