X-Message-Number: 4053 Date: Mon, 20 Mar 95 19:32:22 From: Steve Bridge <> Subject: Alabama and Wisconsin Cryonics To CryoNet >From Steve Bridge, Alcor March 20, 1995 After my summary of legal issues for the 1st Quarter CRYONICS Magazine (at the printer now; in the mail later this week) went to press, we received something else in the mail I wish I had earlier. Baker, David M. "Cryonic Preservation of Human Bodies -- A Call for Legislative Action." *Dickinson Law Review*, Volume 94, #4, Summer 1994. I will put an update article in the next issue of cryonics about this, and I will probably post a summary here. Baker has found two other states (besides California) where the legal basis of cryonics has been examined in some manner. (California has examined cryonics in Attorney General's opinions and in litigation with the Department of Health Services). Wisconsin's Attorney General issued opinions in 1967 and 1968 more or less favorable to cryonics. The full opinions were not in this article, so I need to look them up before commenting further. The citations of these opinions listed in the article were also not clear; I will put more on line when I have found them myself. Alabama in 1991 included the words "cryogenic storage" in the definition of a cemetery in its Funeral Services Chapter. *Alabama Code* 34-13-1(a)(5) (1991). No definition of "cryogenic storage" itself was provided. It can be presumed that this would give some legal framework for patient storage in Alabama; but there seems to be no mention of the practice of cryonics. Baker also proposes a "Uniform Cryonic Disposition Act," complete with a "State Board of Cryonics." It is much too early in the history of cryonics for any government to adapt his legislative ideas; but you can bet that other attorneys and legislators will be finding this article when they have to research cryonics in the future. If you might be involved in management or legislative action for cryonics in the future, you need to know what is here. I actually thought about sending photocopies of this to the leaders of all the cryonics groups; but then I figured if there is one situation where you want to be especially careful of copyright, it is on articles written by attorneys! If you can't find this in a library somewhere, reprints are available through: William S. Hein & Co., Inc. 1285 Main Street Buffalo NY 14209 (800) 828-7571 or (716) 882-2600 I don't know the price. Steve Bridge Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=4053