X-Message-Number: 29951
From: 
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 00:23:08 EDT
Subject: living wake

When and how to (temporarily?) check out?

Many if not  most cryonics members would like to be able to choose the time 

and manner of  deanimation, the obvious reasons being (a) If you are definitely
terminal, you  would like to avoid the unpleasantness (for yourself and 

family) of a slow and  miserable and probably very expensive death; and (b) If 
your 
time of deanimation  is known in advance, you have the best chance of a good 
cryopreservation, and  (c) you can have a nice wake with your own 

participation, a rousing chorus of  Who Threw The Overalls In Mrs. Murphy's 
Chowder, and a 
good time had by all.  What a way to go!

Against these positives there are possible negatives.  (I'll confine my 

remarks to the case of old people, dying essentially of  senescence, whatever 
the 
proximate symptoms may be.) 

(a) Most hospital  personnel and medical examiners will want no part of 

encouraging or even  allowing a patient's decision to choose death by any active
means, although it's  O.K. to starve yourself or refuse medication if you are 

conscious and can  communicate. (I am told there are exceptions e.g. in Oregon,
Switzerland, and  Holland.) (b)Many states, including Michigan, have laws 
against assisted  suicide, although in Michigan, and as far as I know in all 

states,there is no  law against suicide per se. (Pre-cryonics, how would you 
punish 
it?) (c)There is  the threat of autopsy if someone in authority is either 
suspicious or  hostile.

In my own case I have several tactics to minimize the chance of  unwanted 
delay after clinical death, or of unwanted life support to delay death  while 
allowing more deterioration and expense and stress for those  concerned.

First, ideally, I will be under hospice care, which in itself  goes a long 
way toward avoiding red tape. (That has worked well in several CI  cases, 
including my wife Mae's.)I will be at home, avoiding hospital delays or  
interferences and expense for the taxpayers. 

Second, if I can assure  myself ahead of time that the medical examiner or 

other authorities will keep  hands off, the actual method might be to take some
legal over-the-counter pills  to induce torpor, then sit in the tub (in my 

underwear, to avoid bystander  embarassment) and introduce first tepid and then
cold water and finlly ice  water. The cold will reduce body temperature and 

finally cause death by  hypothermia, reducing ischemic damage. I would also give
myself a dose of  heparin IV (using legally obtained heparin as a chemical, 
not as a drug) plus  any other legal medications deemed useful in retarding 

ischemic damage.  Preferably, a physician, possibly from the ME's office, would 
be 
standing by to  pronounce death, or if necessary EMS personnel would be there 
to take vitals and  have death pronounced by telephone by a doc in a local 
emergency  room.

Other possible methods of unassisted suicide include the Roman  style, 

sitting in a tub of warm water and slitting your wrists. Some people  couldn't 
do 

that, but I could do it easily. If advance soundings were  discouraging enough,
I might have to settle for starving myself (ultimate  calorie restriction).

Why don't I immediately sound out the ME? It's too  soon, for several 

reasons, which I won't bother to enumerate here. A little  thought should 
convince 
anyone that this isn't the right time.

The  "right" time will be determined in part by my quality of life. If I can 
no  longer take care of myself and my dog, that's enough for now. No 

wheelchair for  me, let alone being bedbound, unless it is clear that a little 
more 
time could  make a material difference in quality of  cryopreservation.

l'Chayim.

Robert  Ettinger





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