X-Message-Number: 7265 Date: Thu, 05 Dec 96 13:11:41 From: Steve Bridge <> Subject: Alcor's 33rd patient To CryoNet >From Steve Bridge, Alcor December 5, 1996 Recently Alcor accepted its 33rd cryonic suspension patient, an elderly woman from the Phoenix metropolitan area. This was an unusual suspension for Alcor in that the woman was not an Alcor member and the woman's son only contacted us after discovering his mother had died in bed during the night. Alcor rarely accepts situations like this, and we only became involved in this one because: 1. The patient was local, so we could have extensive contacts with the son and easy access to the patient. 2. We could confirm that appropriate funding was available. 3. We could establish informed consent on the part of the son, who had been semi-involved in cryonics for over 25 years and was known to two of the staff. Unfortunately, the son had procrastinated like many other almost-cryonicists and had never gotten around to signing up his mother or himself. 4. We were able to walk through our legal documents in detail with the son. The son had waited several hours before contacting Alcor, then there were more delays in getting proper pronouncement of death so an autopsy could be avoided. Further delays were created by the need to verify funding and the son's legal authority and informed consent. Eventually, the patient was straight frozen (neuro) without cryoprotective perfusion. The identity of the patient and son will remain confidential. A somewhat more detailed discussion will appear in *Cryonics* Magazine. The bottom line, as always, is: GET SIGNED UP NOW! Don't put your family (or yourself, if you want to sign up family members) in a situation where only a lower quality preservation can be accomplished. Alcor could have helped this family a lot more if they had been suspension members, where we had legal authority to act on behalf of the patient. Don't bet on Alcor doing even this much for you if you're not a member. We plan on keeping these situations extremely rare. Alcor now has 20 neuropatients and 13 whole-body patients in liquid nitrogen storage. Steve Bridge Stephen Bridge, President () Alcor Life Extension Foundation Non-profit cryonic suspension services since 1972. 7895 E. Acoma Dr., Suite 110, Scottsdale AZ 85260-6916 Phone (602) 922-9013 (800) 367-2228 FAX (602) 922-9027 for general requests http://www.alcor.org Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=7265