X-Message-Number: 27971
From: "marta sandberg" <>
Subject: The other side of standby
Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 17:24:34 +0800

IMHO, there are many different viewpoints on stand-by services and all of 
them are legitimate.  This is not an issue of black or white, rather it is 
an issue of looking at the facts and then making a value judgement.

In case anybody is interest, I will list the reasons I have opted out of 
standby.

COST.  For me it is a bad bargain.

To me cryonics is about loving life, and that means loving the life I live 
right now.  The insurance premiums needed to pay for standby would take up a 
large part of my annual salary.  That would seriously affect my 'joy of 
living now' factor.  I am not willing to squeeze every penny for the next 
thirty years so I _may_ have a chance to a new life in the future.

PUBLICITY.  I have become one of the spokespersons for cryonics in Australia 
and Sweden.  In most interviews I will be asked two hostile questions.  The 
first is about cryonics being a con-game and the second is about cryonics 
only being for very rich people.  (If you are interviewed, try taking the 
wind out of their sail by answering these questions before they have time to 
ask them)

I think we are doing a lot of harm to the image of cryonics by saying that 
only those who can afford standby service are serious about cryonics.

QUALITY.  I am by no means certain that a standby service will provide the 
best quality freezing possible for me.  There are a number of reasons for 
this.

Funeral directors have a lot more practice than a standby team.  They also 
have better contacts and experience in arranging to fly bodies to the USA.  
The same goes for access to hospitals.

Nor am I particularly happy with some of the standby protocols.  Until I 
know exactly what we need to preserve and the best way of doing so, I want 
the simplest possible preparation of my body.  I have always been afraid 
that the massive use of drugs in sophisticated suspension procedures can 
obliterate some delicate brain chemicals.

SOCIAL  Nor should we forget the impact (both on the client and on their 
friends and family) of having a standby team on 'death watch'.  We have lost 
patents in the past from this.

TIMING.  It is very hard to predict the time of death, unless you are 
willing (and legally able) to influence your death through some sort of 
euthanasia.  Standby teams have always had problem in either not getting 
there in time or having a too long standby.  This is not a problem with a 
funeral director as they are local.

OTHER OPTIONS  Many countries, such as Australia, have other options.  Down 
under we have Cryonics Association of Australia.  They are local and they 
have dealt previous cryonic suspensions.  Other countries have their own 
organizations.

Best of all is probably friends and family.  Getting your family involved in 
the process and asking them to contact your local funeral director (and talk 
to your hospital), is probably the best safeguard you can have.  It would be 
interested if somebody could graph quality of suspension against family 
involvement.  I have a feeling you will find a very high correlation.

I can go on with other reasons, but this will do for a start.

I am not trying to say that other people should not chose a the standby 
option, but I am saying that it is not a black and white issue.  After 
having looked into all the options, I have decided against it.  Others might 
decide for standby.  Let's hope all of us are right.

Long life,

Marta

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