X-Message-Number: 25911 Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 18:56:23 -0500 From: Randolfe Wicker <> Subject: Terri Schiavo's Body?? Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Terri Schiavo's body will probably be another issue of contention after she finally dies. Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband, wants her body immediately cremated upon death. He is also going to bury her ashes in his family grave plot in Pennsylvania. The parents say cremation violates Roman Catholic beliefs and wants to have their daughter buried in Florida near where they live. Diehards on the "keep the tube connected" side are implying that "instant cremation" is desired by the husband to prevent any autopsy that might determine more definitively whether the order to remove the tube was justified. Some even hint that the husband might be trying to cover up physical abuse done to his wife during the stormy months of their disintegrating marriage immediately prior to Terri's having the heart failure that left her in this state. The arguments regarding cremation and religious beliefs have HUGE implications for those who want to use cryonics. Until some cryonicist like Maine-based Immortality Institute member," The First Immortal", succeeds in having his legal argument that "cryonic suspension" is essentially "a religious rite" for those who believe in it accepted by the courts, judges may well order traditional burial instead. This situation, in which I am sure the majority of people would probably favor the parents' wishes regarding the handling of their daughter's body, highlights a very important shortcoming in contemporary law. An individual cannot make arrangements for cremation that will be effective after his/her death without doing it while alive and having his closest relative sign off on it in advance. In fact, you can't object to cremation either. You have no say in the matter. At death, ownership of your body passes to your next of kin. That is a violation of "patients rights". But you legally cease to exist at the time of death and any "power of attorney" you've given to anyone expires with your death. I believe Alcor uses a small nuance (loophole?) in this law that sets uniform standards for authorized donations of organs or of one's body for medical research. Laws have a life of their own. A law that said the expressed wishes regarding burial in a will must be respected could actually lay a good legal framework for those who want to be cryo-preserved. However, a law saying that "the religious beliefs of an individual's religion cannot be violated" by the person having authority over the body could enable family members to stop someone from being cryo-preserved if they were nominal members of a recognized religion that officially condemned it. (This is an example of legislation that might be drawn up and passed hurriedly in Florida at this time to prevent Chiavo's husband from cremating his wife.) So, the issue of who has control of one's body after death is actually a very important one. Randolfe H. Wicker Founder, Clone Rights United Front www.clonerights.com Spokesperson, Reproductive Cloning Network, www.reproductivecloning.net Correspondent, , StemClone Digest, www.StemCloneDigest.com Advisor, The Immortality Institute, www.imminst.org 201-656-3280 (Mornings) Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=25911