X-Message-Number: 9800
Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 14:57:34 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: CryoCare Questions

On Thu, 28 May 1998, CryoNet wrote:

> From: "B. F. Shelton" <>

> prospective customer.  One item sent up a red flag:  CryoCare reserves the
> option to increase its fee at any time in the future, to those currently
> signed up.

Obviously it is not possible for any organization to guarantee constant 
pricing for the next fifty years or more. All cryonics organizations 
reserve the right to change their fees. This is why I recommend 
index-linked life insurance to anyone who is considering signing up for 
cryonics. The face value of the insurance is adjusted for inflation on an 
annual basis. This entails a consequent annual increase in the premium, 
but basically everything is just keeping place with inflation. Provided 
your income also keeps pace with inflation, this should take care of the 
problem.

> It also occurred to me that those who could afford to pay the entire fee
> in advance, would be in similar jeopardy, unless they happen to have
> other resources of undetermined amount that would suffice to meet a fee
> increase.

If someone chose, for instance, to set aside $58,500 (the current fee 
from neuropreservation at CryoCare), the money would earn interest which 
would guard against future price increases, assuming of course the 
interest was rolled over and not withdrawn.

> On another related matter, does anyone know how CryoCare proposes to
> provide services after its contract with Biopreservation Inc. expires (if
> I'm not mistaken, the principals of that company have declared they will
> spend all their resources on research)?  Will they be using this new
> proposed company "BioTransport" which Alcor has been promoting?

I'll have a more definitive answer to this question in about two weeks
from now. Currently Mike Darwin has stated publicly that he does not want
to bear the SOLE responsibility for providing GUARANTEED service. In other
words, he might like to take a vacation once in a while. It would be a
mistake, however, to assume that Mike is solely responsible for all the
work that has been done in cryonics cases for CryoCare and ACS over the
past three years. He himself has already paid tribute numerous times to
the other members of his team, among them Steve Harris, MD; Sandra
Russell; Joan O'Farrell; Christopher Rasch; and Brian Wowk. Steve, Sandra,
and Joan, in particular, have participated in numerous experiments closely
relevant to cryonics since they involve femoral cutdown and perfusion
using sophisticated monitoring equipment. Also, Steve Harris has
participated in many cryonics cases. Steve, Sandra, and Joan all worked
actively in the cryopreservation of CryoCare member James Gallagher,
arguably the most complex "state of the art" cryopreservation ever
attempted. (See our web page for details.) Christopher Rasch is a
biologist specializing now in cryobiology research; he has a long-standing
interest in cryonics. Brian Work has a PhD in (I believe) biophysics, is a
former president of CryoCare, and is also working in cryobiology research.
Joan O'Farrell formerly occupied a senior position in hospital
administration and has run clinical tests of pharmaceutical products to
meet FDA certification. None of these people wants to pursue human
cryopreservation as a vocation, but all of them have agreed to assist in
an emergency. Later this year we hope to hire an additional person (with
formal medical qualifications) who will share Mike Darwin's
responsibilities on an equal basis. 

One caveat: since the personnel I have listed wish to devote their time 
primarily to research, CryoCare has agreed to place a moratorium on 
signing up new members until we find a new staff member to share Mike 
Darwin's responsibilities.

--Charles Platt

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=9800