X-Message-Number: 2847
From:  (Robert Cardwell)
Date: Sun, 3 Jul 94 22:39:18 +1000
Subject: CRYONICS Distant Rescues (was Profit Motive)

In message #2840, Mike Darwin replied to Thomas Donaldson:
...
>I will also point out that volunteers who are not led by qualified people and
>who are not themselves qualified do a terrible job when demanding tasks are
>required.

Mike, I want to agree with that but: what do you call a qualified volunteer?

...
>The more experience I get with "undercapitalized" groups of volunteers in
>remote areas (i.e., cut off from mainstream cryonics technology) the more I
>am coming to conclude that their VERY BEST strategy is to:
>
>a) Get a PIB (portable ice bath) and Squid (water pump cooling unit)
>b) build a dry ice box.
>c) cool the patient on ice ASAP and them FREEZE him/her in dry ice ASAP and
>ship to wherever for storage.

I don't agree that that is the VERY BEST strategy for rescuing one of our
members from Australia (let's drop the pretense of alluding to some general
distant place) - if by "best" we mean the strategy most likely to minimize
ischemia AND freezing damage (by allowing cryo-protective perfusion to
occur). However, I would like to hear any reasons why you think the
following strategy would not, as you seem to imply, be the best approach:

I envisage that after stabilization, cooling and washout our patient will
be packed in WATER ICE and put on the plane to Scottsdale; there to be
given cryo-protective perfusion and freezing. The suspension team at Alcor
will have had time to prepare and to be ready when the patient arrives.

Maybe there will be time for Alcor staff to come out here, maybe not. We
must be prepared as though they were not able to come in time.

"We" (that is, I) have the basic components: transport equipment and
medications, PIB, Squid, sterile tubing pack for an open-circuit washout,
sterile water, chemicals to mix MHP-1 base perfusate for the washout. And
we have an insulated shipping container.

Our written correspondence with the authorities indicates that there is no
law or regulation to prohibit such a shipment (except in the case of
quarantinable disease). We have co-operating morticians in the two major
cities.

Anyone can envisage circumstances that would COMPEL straight freezing and
shipment, but I see no reason to give up in advance.

(End of scenario)

On the other hand, Australian cryonics has sometimes been discussed in
terms of local full perfusion and freezing: I now believe that this
approach would be an inappropriate goal because: (1) the benefit to the
patient of the extra local preparedness required is not apparent,
compared to the strategy I described above; (2) frozen patients are
brittle and air shipment can involve rough handling; (3) we are very
undermanned, and by limiting our goals we are more able to be competent
at what we do.


Long life,
Robert

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