X-Message-Number: 21289
From: 
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 11:25:10 EST
Subject: questions

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Randy had some questions and remarks. Briefly:

1. Standbys. SAI (Suspended Animation, Inc.) has worked with both CI and 
Alcor in the initial preparation phase. My impression is that their pricing 
currently is individually negotiable and has not yet settled down to a fixed 
and published schedule of prices. However--subject to correction--my 
impression is that standbys may be on the order of $2,000 per day after the 
first day. They have a web site.

As for standby teams in general, there are obvious assets and liabilties. In 
the best case you are likely to get the best and timeliest care. In other 
cases you may get the worst of both worlds--lots of delay and lots of extra 
expense. It will usually take at least a full day after notification to get 
the team to the patient, even if the patient is already a member with all 
paperwork and funding in place. This works mainly for the case of expected 
death, and such predictions are always guesses.

CI's policy is to try to make the widest options available to its members. If 
a member wants someone else to do the initial preparation, our contract 
allows that.

2. Funeral Directors--Randy suggests they may be unreliable and unethical, 
with no motivation for timely and effective response. This is just wrong. See 
our web site for more detail. Results will obviously vary with location and 
circumstances, but in our experience the local mortician washout/perfusion 
option is often the best. Next best, circumstances permitting, is for the 
local mortician to start cool-down and related steps and ship to Michigan for 
washout and perfusion, or in some cases wait for Michigan people to arrive at 
the local mortician's. 

3. Local volunteer groups. Experience varies widely, mostly disappointing 
historically, but currently there are a few local volunteer groups of value. 
These include Toronto, England, Australia, D.C., and perhaps a couple of 
others. 

4. Membership. CI does publish membership numbers, sometimes in The 
Immortalist and also on our web site. Currently around 430, from memory. 
Currently 47 human patients, all whole body.

Robert Ettinger
Cryonics Institute
Immortalist Society
www.cryonics.org





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