X-Message-Number: 1322
From: Graham Wilson <>
Subject: CRYONICS
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 92 15:47:47 WET DST

I thought people might be interested to know that in England and Wales the
1990 Access to Health Records Act provides the following provisions.

Section 3 (1) - An application for access to a health record, or to any 
                part of a health record may be made to the holder of the
                record by any of the following namely:-

       ...(f) - Where the patient has died the patient's personal 
                representative and any person who may have a claim 
                arising out of the patient's death.

By virtue of Section 2 (1) of this act "health professional" includes
a registered medical practitioner and a clinical psychologist or a 
scientist employed by such a health service body as head of department.

I believe this could have serious implications for any person cryonically
suspended. An individual has a right to confidentiality as far as their
medical records are concerned. This confidentiality is partially lost
at the point of death. This could have serious repercussions for any
individual who might be reanimated in the future only to find that their
personal medical records are now published within the public domain.

However, any UK participant considering cryonic suspension can prevent
such disclosure from taking place after their "death" under Section 4 (3)
of the act. According to this section, a patient may intimate during their
lifetime that medical records are not to be disclosed after "death".

Section 5 (1)(a)(i) states that a health professional (doctor, psychologist)
may not disclose information from a medical record where it is likely to 
cause serious harm to the physical or mental health of the patient or
any other individual.

Could it not be argued that a cryonically suspended patient would suffer
"serious harm" were the contents of his medical records to be revealed ?
No judge would uphold such a proposition were it put to the test, on the
grounds that a cryonically suspended person has lost their legal identity
and thus is no longer a patient within the meaning of the act.

Incidentally, section 6 (1) provides for the statutory correction of
inaccurate health records. Perhaps in the future reanimated patients may be
applying to have corrections made to their medical records. Such corrections
could include the fact they are alive and not dead !
-- 
          ****************************************************
          *      Graham Wilson      *    *
          *     LL.B.  Law  III     *  Coventry  University  *
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