X-Message-Number: 1935
Newsgroups: sci.cryonics
From:  (Timothy Freeman)
Subject: Re: Cryonics Society of CA, a.k.a. "Chatsworth Debacle"
Message-ID: <>
References: <>
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1993 14:55:42 GMT

 (Morticia) writes:

   Yes!!! I would be interested in finding out about the Cryonics Society of 
   CAlifornia, too!!!!
   please if anyone knows, lemme know!!!

If you want cryonics in California, check out Alcor and ACS.  Pointers
to them are in the FAQ.  CSC, per se, is a fairly gruesome piece of
history.  Is anyone willing to prepare a reasonably careful ~3Kbyte
summary for inclusion in the FAQ?  Here's what I can say from
materials I have on hand:

Cryomsg 1285 from Brian Wowk <> says:

        The failure of CSC is a LONG story.  You will find some of the 
details in the Feb. and March 1992 issues of Cryonics Magazine available from 
the Alcor Life Extension Foundation.
 
        Briefly, the failure of CSC was related to freeze-first-pay-later 
practices in the early days of cryonics.  Similar failures today are unlikely 
because of much higher *up front* suspension funding requirements.  The 
relatives of the thawed patients did file a successful million dollar class 
action suit against the President of CSC and an assisting mortician (Los 
Angeles Superior Court Case No. C 161229, circa 1981).

And my personal memory of reading that issue of Cryonics Magazine says:

The person running CSC was expecting much faster growth than actually
happened, and he relied upon that growth to pay the bills to keep his
suspendees in storage.  When he ran out of money, he lied and tried to
convince people that nothing was awry, even though his "patients" were
now rotting in the dewars.  Eventually the secret was discovered and
he was sued.  The whole scenario convinced some people in the
California government that cryonics is evil, which explains some of
the surprises that happened during the Dora Kent affair, among other
things.

Most of the story happened in Chatsworth, so it is sometimes called
the "Chatsworth Debacle".  

Although (according to the posts to this bboard) James Benford was
originally suspended by CSC, he somehow avoided the debacle and is now
under the care of Alcor.

Morals of the story:

Don't do business with cryonics organizations that try to get your
descendants to pay the fees to keep you in storage instead of you
paying all the needed money before you die.

Don't do business with cryonics organizations that won't show you that
their dewars actually have liquid nitrogen in them when you visit.

Don't do business with cryonics organizations that are secretive about
their financial situation.

Prescript: "Morticia" is an appropriate name for someone asking this
question.

--
Tim Freeman <>    
When they took the fourth amendment, I was silent because I don't deal drugs.
When they took the sixth amendment, I kept quiet because I know I'm innocent.
When they took the second amendment, I said nothing because I don't own a gun.
Now they've come for the first amendment, and I can't say anything at all.

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