X-Message-Number: 710
Date: 08 Apr 92 15:49:13 EDT
From: "Steven B. Harris" <>
Subject: Unanswered ACS policy questions

Dear Folks:

   The subject headers in the list of the last hundred messages
on cryonet remind me of a couple of issues I let slip by me last
month, which I might as well address now while I think about it. 
As I recall (I didn't archive the message) there was a note by
Mr. Swank a month ago to the effect that Alcor has not always
done neurosuspensions.  I want to state for the record that this
is not true-- the "neurosuspension" has been the core of what
Alcor offers right from the beginning of the organization, and
has always been available.  It is true that Alcor has never done
an isolated "brain only" suspension, but this is only because
nobody has ever wanted one, not because it would be against
formal policy (presently Alcor does not *recommend* such a
procedure because of the extreme delicacy of the non-formalin-
preserved brain, and the dangers involved in handling and storing
it outside the protective skull; however Alcor would no doubt
perform such a procedure on a suspendee adamantly desiring it).

    Also, as I recall <please correct me if I'm wrong!> there was
also a statement from Mr. Swank that ACS does indeed accept
people who want to sign up for "head-only" (as opposed to brain
only) freezing.  I wonder if he'd clarify this point:  does that
mean that Trans Time (the organization which performs suspensions
for ACS) is willing to do such a procedure?  If not, who is going
to do it for ACS?  On a related matter, I've also heard ugly
rumors that Trans Time has refused to do any kind of surgery or
washout or cryoprotectant perfusion on a patient with AIDS.  
Does that mean that ACS members with the AIDS virus are destined
for a "straight freeze" (no pun intended), with no cryoprotectant
prep?  If so, do these members (assuming that ACS has members who
are HIV positive) realize what they're in for?  On the other
hand, if these rumors are not true, here is a good place to put
them to rest right now.

   While I'm at it, I'm also interested in Mr. Swank's explana-
tion that the patient who de-animated in a nursing home several
months ago was offered standby, but refused.  Would he mind
providing a bit more detail?  (Surely this would not compromise
privacy, since we don't know who this patient was).  I'm in-
terested particularly in why anyone (or their family) would
refuse such a thing.  And how about the last ACS patient, who
died in a hospital with some warning?  What happened there?  I
note that in the last 5 years since I've been a member of Alcor,
Alcor representatives have managed to be physically present with
equipment to begin the suspension process on a member at the
MOMENT of pronouncement of death, no less than SEVEN times.  So
far as I can tell, ACS has yet to be present at a de-animation. 
Would Mr. Swank like to comment on the factors responsible for
this?  

   Lastly, on a lighter note, I cannot help but comment on the
posted notes giving the news that Dr. Avi Ben-Abraham, Smartest
Man in the World and President of ACS, had announced publicly
that Mohammed Ali *might* sign up for cryonics.  My comment: 
Wouldn't it be even neater if Dr. Ben-Abraham, Smartest Man in
the World and President of ACS, signed up for cryonics himself?

                                          Steve

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