X-Message-Number: 364
From att!research.att.com!watson.ibm.com!metzger Thu Jun 27 11:39:25 0400 1991
Date: Thu, 27 Jun 91 11:39:25 -0400
From: (Perry E. Metzger)
To:
Subject: submission for cryonics mailing list
in re: #362 - Insurance, Organ Donation, Spousal Approval
From: (Mark Kaminsky)
Message-Id: <>
To:
:Subject: submission for cryonics mailing list
Hi, I'm new to this list and the field so I'm sorry if these
topics have been covered recently. I just got/read the new
Cryonics book from Alcor and I have some questions:
1) Insurance.
At one point it mentions that someone in their 20s/30s can get
$41k of life insurance for $45/month. Is this a typo or are they
talking about some whole life/annuity plan. Otherwise I expect
it should be $45/year. My current SBLI for $100k is about
$110/year (age 33 non-smoker). Also I've heard of $250k term
life plans for about $450/year (guaranteed rate for 20 years).
What do most folks do? Term or some sort of term/annuity combo?
I haven't gone in for an alcor membership yet, but my assumption is
that you always want to get a whole life policy rather than term
insurance because otherwise you may find yourself uninsured when you
most need it (that is, when you are elderly and your chance of dying
is greatest). Can anyone confirm this?
2) Organ Donor + Neurosuspension?
I currently carry an organ donor card because it's better to give
a burn victim my skin than to bury it, same for the other organs.
Now that I'm learning about the cryonics option I think I rather keep
them. But what about the rest of the body in the case of a
neurosuspension? In the book Alcor says they cremate it. Could it be
used for organ donations? Sounds to me like a better idea than burning
it.
As I recall, the work Alcor has to do to prep the patient for
suspension pretty much ruins the possibility of using the organs for
donation, even in a neurosuspension patient. Can anyone confirm this?
3) Spouse doesn't approve.
One of the problems I have with cryonics is that my wife doesn't
approve of it. She has some quasi-religious beliefs and also
wants a grave site to visit/share, but mainly the thought of cryonics
leaves her cold (sorry - I guess you heard that a thousand times).
I am working on her. I rather go together, but if not that, I'd
go alone - if able. Anyone have a similar problem that they have
overcome? A directly intellectual argument won't work with her -
it's got to "feel" good.
If I de-animate before her (which is the most likely), I assume that,
as next of kin, what she says pretty much goes (the dead having no
rights). Thus it is mostly pointless to proceed with membership
without her consent. Is this so? I speak here of just my
suspension - I'd of course respect her wishes with respect to her
own body.
I'm not sure how hard your spouse's feelings concerning the
disposition of your body will be to overcome, but I will note the
following:
>From my perspective, cryonics is a life saving procedure, no different
from being given CPR or getting critical surgery for a burst appendix.
Your spouse's position is not merely problematic, but actually life
threatening to you. She is essentially arguing that it is better to
have you dead so she will have a place to visit instead of having you
alive. If your spouse said to you that she would rather have you not
have surgery for your burst appendix so that she could visit your
grave, and threatened to make sure that if you ever had a burst
appendix she would prevent the surgery, you would think of her as a
significant threat to your life and well-being. This case is no
different. I would naturally try very very hard to convince a loved
one of the case for cryonics, but if my wife was intractable and
insisted that having me dead was a good idea, I'd get a divorce. You
can always fall in love again, but you only get one life.
Perry Metzger
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