X-Message-Number: 12426 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: What I think of lawsuits to allow cryonic suspensions before death Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 22:45:16 +1000 (EST) Hi everyone! As the person who was the subject of a lawsuit to allow cryonic suspension before legal death, I have something to say on all the "suicide-not suicide" etc discussions. First of all, I still believe such a lawsuit will eventually succeed. But for that to happen it will probably take more than acceptance by most people of assisted suicide. The problem here, which we see in Oregon and other places where polls clearly support assisted suicide, is that many of the upper echelons of society (no implication here as to their real position) still don't like the idea. Ergo, judges are less likely to like the idea than most people, and a lawsuit will depend on the viewpoint of the judges, not a public poll. Moreover, as several posters have made clear, we aren't even trying to commit suicide in the normal sense of "suicide". We're trying to keep on living despite a condition which most doctors consider to be "death". If anything this is likely to make our political problem, and our legal problem, even less amenable to a suitable judgement. Not only that, but the problem of convincing judges of the merits of our case USING ONLY THE STANDARD LEGAL METHODS becomes much harder. At least in English- descended legal systems, precedents take a major role. There've been other suits asking for assisted suicide, though the precedents are very thin on the ground. For successful suits asking for cryonic suspension the number of precedents comes to a big ZERO. I don't like this situation, and I'm sure that all cryonicists reading this also don't like it. But right now we form a very small minority ... also a situation I don't like (even though I've argued before that its not as bad as many seem to think). As for myself, basically I've accepted that if I really find myself with a recurrence of my tumor, or any other condition which will destroy my brain while leaving me officially still "alive", I should take the road several cryonicists have already taken: starving myself to death. Taking our desire to law may have publicity advantages (you would not believe the number of enquiries I got because of the law case) but should not be thought of, at least for now and into the indefinite future, as a serious means of getting cryonic suspension legal before legal death. Best and long long life to all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=12426