X-Message-Number: 32066
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:29:35 +0000 (UTC)
From: Melody%20Maxim <>
Subject: Re: CryoNet #32065


I don't know how Rudi Hoffman can call Larry Johnson "almost certainly 
fraudulent," when Johnson has photos, documents and audiotapes to back up most 
of his claims against Alcor. On the other hand, whoever called into ABC 
Nightline and said Alcor's 1992 AIDS patient died in his bedroom, alone with his
partner, WAS being fraudulent, (unless Alcor was being fraudulent about the 
makeshift operating room, in a garage, in their online case report). Then, there
was the time Alcor tried to pass off a ball peen hammer as a medical mallet. 
Oh, and what about the NDA Alcor claims Johnson is in violation of? They have 
never produced that document, most likely because it never existed, just like 
the non-existent NDA I was accused of stealing, when I started criticizing 
Suspended Animation. (I believe those false accusations originated with the same
person, someone who has been in positions of power, at both Alcor and Suspended
Animation.)


I know a lot of people want to think otherwise, at the moment, but I am still 
"cryonics-friendly." I don't want cryonics to be banned, or over-regulated, but 
I DO want some serious changes in the industry. It would be best if the 
organizations would clean up their acts, on their own. Calling Johnson a liar, 
in the face of all the evidence he has, is NOT a smart move, and it would be 
refreshing to see the organizations respond with something other than the usual 
denials, lies and personal attacks. Those things are going to get old in the 
eyes of the public, the courts, and any regulatory agencies that might be 
interested.


Vanguard Press claims to have fact-checked that book to the max, and it appears 
they are willing to defend it against any, and all, attacks from Alcor. Alcor's 
attorney, (who just happens to be LEF's (Kent and Faloon's) attorney, by the 
way), didn't come off too well, on Wolf Blitzer, in my opinion, mostly invoking 
"attorney-client privilege" and "patient confidentiality," and repeating what I 
believe to be "half-truths," at best. I think it's going to be difficult for 
Alcor to defend laymen performing surgical procedures, especially after people 
read the case notes for the Williams case, which are far beyond "amateurish," 
but still manage to clearly describe the gross incompetency. Even worse, it's 
going to be difficult to defend a former leader of Alcor, accused of euthanizing
patients, when Johnson has his former co-workers discussing those alleged 
incidents, on audiotape.


Contrary to many of the myths that exist within the cryonics industry, there IS 
enough money to hire professionals and professionals WILL work in cryonics, just
not under the conditions that exist. We don't want to be caught in situations 
where people are cryopreserving patients who never signed up, pouring 
biohazardous waste down city sewer systems, or using equipment that makes us 
look stupid. We also don't want to be accused of hastening patients' deaths, 
something that is still illegal, all around the world, (with the exceptions of 
Oregon, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands, I believe, and even in those 
places, there are strict requirements, regarding the people allowed to 
participate).


Vascular cannulations and perfusion, (the procedures needed to deliver the 
solutions, in cryonics), are procedures that are well-established in heart 
surgery, many decades ago, so there is no reason for cryonics care providers to 
be botching them, so terribly, after all these years. Do the people reading 
Cryonet realize open heart surgery and perfusion have not been around much 
longer than cryonics? (Yet, look at the disparity in progress, between these two
fields!) Are cryonicists aware that some of the early pioneers of open heart 
surgery were thought to be "kooks"? From "The History of Cardiothoracic Surgery 
from Early Times:"


"Raymond Hurt takes the reader on a journey through history in a brisk, concise,
and comprehensive manner. The reader is awed by the bravery, courage, and 
creativity of the pioneers in the field. These scholars were sometimes wrong and
sometimes so radical that they were ridiculed and threatened with bodily harm 
but each concept slowly changed the way of thinking and advanced the 
field."http://asianannals.ctsnetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/6/2/131 
("Slowly"??? Apparently the author was unfamiliar with the rate of progress, in 
cryonics!)


I suggest people like Rudi Hoffman forget about PR for the folks who have 
brought you nearly four decades of little-to-no progress, and demand reform. 
Ultimately, it's Alcor's past activities, and continued failure to provide a 
high standard of patient care providers, that have placed their organization at 
risk, not Johnson's reporting of those activities. It's time for Alcor to break 
ties with those strongly-associated with past foolishness, and chart a new 
course...unless Alcor members want another 40 years of the same.

Melody Maxim

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