X-Message-Number: 17712
Date: Sat, 06 Oct 2001 19:24:32 -0400
From: William Gale <>
Subject: Re: Congratulations to Platt on Discover Article
References: <>

Rudi Hoffman wrote:

> Congratulations to Charles Platt on an excellent article in a major
> publication, Discover magazine.  I subscribe, and have my copy in front of
> me.  Discover *and* Scientific American, both publishing articles that at
> least give some credence to the concepts related to cryonics, within weeks of
> each other.  I call this progress.
> 

I got a quick brush off when I pointed out one of the assertions in 
this article before.  Let me quote the paragraph in full and see if I
can get a
longer response.

QUOTE
The key discovery was made by Peter Safar, a doctor best known for
  introducing the techniques of cardiopulmonary resuscitation to the
United
  States almost 50 years ago. Now in his seventies, Safar is still the
best-known
  figure in resuscitation medicine and continues to do research at his
lab at the
  University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The fundamental challenge of
  resuscitation, he says, lies not in the heart but in the brain: "When
sudden
  cardiac death occurs at normal body temperature, brain damage will be
  permanent after five minutes." 
UNQUOTE

Here is a doctor said to be seventy years old, and therefore possibly
"decades out of date", but also said to be the best-known figure in
resuscitation medicine and still active in research.  He is quoted as
saying that at normal body temperatures, permament brain damage wil
begin after five minutes.  If this is not the case, what evidence
is given to support a figure?  

Note that five minutes is hardly time to get a legal determination of
"death".  Clearly, whatever the time may be, it is not long, and we
want as rapid as possible a cool-down.  How is that to be achieved?

Gale

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