X-Message-Number: 27967
Date: Sun, 21 May 2006 11:27:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: Re: CryoNet #27959 - #27965
References: <>

> Message #27963
> From: Keith Henson <>
> Subject: Standby
>
> *Nobody* in their right mind needs standby.

People near death, Keith, often are not "in their right
mind." You may think that you are exempt from this
syndrome, but are you going to gamble your future survival
on this? I have seen people with an absolute lifelong
hardcore commitment to cryonics make truly self-destructive
decisions (such as refusing medications) as they are
confronted with the imminence of their own demise.

> If you are serious about cryonics, then when you are in a terminal
> situation, you move next to your cryonics provider.

Many people who are "serious about cryonics" refuse to do
this, or they keep putting it off (until too late). Or they
make serious plans but then suddenly they experience a rapid
decline which makes it impossible for them to move. Or they
have family members who turn out to be untrustworthy. You
are surely aware of these cases.

Also, even if someone moves close to the cryonics facility,
if that person suffers a progressive illness such as cancer,
he or she will still benefit from a standby. You may choose
to call it a local standby instead of a remote standby, but
it is still a standby.

> If you get run over by a turnip truck, then it is a low cost body recovery.
> Neither case requires expensive standby.

Well, that depends, doesn't it? If the local coroner wants to
do an autopsy, but there is some chance of changing his mind,
who's going to be the patient's advocate? I suggest this
would best be done by a cryonics organization employee with
some experience of such situations. Ie, the leader of a
standby team.

I can think of numerous scenarios where a remote standby
becomes necessary. Most commonly the patient simply refuses
to move (especially common if the patient is only weakly
motivated to be cryopreserved, but has a son or daughter who
is determined that it should happen). I know of a case where
someone was dying of cancer and made very careful
arrangements, only to find that he suddenly developed
pneumonia and found himself with less than 24 hours to live,
by which time a relocation would have been problematic for
many reasons.

> The essentially ungraceful process of dying does not have
> to be in your own home.

This is another issue. A home hospice, I think, is the most
ideal situation in which to prepare for, and execute,
cryonics procedures. If you are fortunate and rational, you
will have enough warning regarding your death, and you will
be smart enough and wealthy enough to rent a house or
apartment near the cryonics organization, with enough time
to arrange a home hospice and get a standby set up. But these
are big "ifs."

I know that you are a confident kind of guy, Keith, but are
you totally confident that you will be able to satisfy all
the criteria when the time comes?

Cryonics history is full of cases where the most unlikely
events occurred immediately prior to legal death. Again, I am
sure you know as much about this as I do, if not more.
Therefore I am puzzled by your uncompromising optimism.

--Charles Platt

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