X-Message-Number: 23566
Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2004 06:03:55 -0500 (EST)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: cold-water drowning
References: <>

Cold-water-drowning cases who have been revived after an hour
or more without vital signs are relevant to cryonics in
several ways.

1. They are living proof that hypothermia greatly delays the
onset of brain damage after cardiac arrest. For members of
any cryonics organization which cools the patient promptly
after legal death has been pronounced, this is reassuring.

2. They demonstrate that cellular processes in the brain can
restart spontaneously after a period of total dormancy.
Consciousness returns and memories are preserved. By
extension, cryopatients may be similarly revived after
decades rather than hours of stasis. This is a major
credibility issue for many people.

3. Resuscitation of patients after more than an hour without
vital signs is a direct challenge to anyone who believes that
the soul leaves the body after "death" occurs. Since revived
patients do not behave like zombies, we have to assume that
the soul, if it exists, is still present. Therefore, either
the soul doesn't leave, or there is no soul, or the person
wasn't really dead. If the drowning victim wasn't really
dead, then cryopatients aren't really dead either (so long as
they have been properly cryopreserved).

I have debated the relevance of cold-water-drowning cases at
some length with a friend who feels that the cases are less
convincing than, say, the cat-brain experiments performed by
Suda. Usually the cold-water-drowning cases do not provide
specific data, such as the exact time when cardiac arrest
occurred. Nor was anyone able to measure brain activity or
body temperature. Thus the cases are dissatisfying compared
with properly controlled lab work.

On the other hand, when trying to present cryonics in a way
that people find palatable, I prefer to avoid the disturbing
image of isolated cat brains being reperfused with blood. I
think it is much easier to talk about cute little children
who are revived after being very very cold. Most journalists
apparently share this outlook; the case of Brittany
Eichelberger (who was rescued from a snow drift one Christmas
Eve) was featured twice in People magazine, and she also
appearedon TV. Thus far, the isolated cat brains have not
attracted an equal amount of media attention--and if they
did, I doubt it would be as positive.

Numerous cases of cold-water-drowning, followed by
resuscitation, are reported each year. The history that
Aschwin presented here is not unusual. You'll find a bunch of
histories (some on PubMed) if you use a search string such as

"cold water drowning" resuscitation

--Charles Platt

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