X-Message-Number: 3844 Date: Mon, 13 Feb 1995 22:42:12 -0500 From: "Keith F. Lynch" <> Subject: Re: Training, professionalism, and the media > John de Rivaz asserts "if cryonics ... was 'professionalised' in the > same way medicine and the law have been, then prices will rise by ten > to fifteen times the current norm." I would be interested in knowing > what he is basing the assertion on, and why "ten to fifteen times"? Medicine and the law are "professionalized" in that nobody may practice either without extensive training in a very expensive government- approved school. And there is a quota of how many doctors and lawyers there can be. This quota is maintained by the doctors and lawyers to keep their incomes high by artificially creating a scarcity. Also, only government-approved medicines and medical devices may be used in medicine. These tend to be much more expensive than similar substances and devices that don't have government approval for medical uses. I suppose the same could happen with cryonics. If the government were to come to officially believe that cryonics patients were alive, then that makes cryonics a medical procedure, and implies that only doctors may do cryonics, and that only government-approved medical-grade water, glycerol, etc, could be used in a suspension. There's no use complaining to the government that this "consumer protection" would certainly cost more lives than it saves, by pricing almost everyone out of the market. This is already true of existing medical care, and they don't give a flying. They'd rather define even the wealthiest Americans as being in need of government financial support for the necessities of life. And use this to impose new taxes and new controls. Perhaps in 20 years, cryonics will be free to everyone who meets government approval, priced out of reach of everyone else except Bill Gates, and we will all be taxed to support goverment-paid cryonics for the approved politically-correct elite. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=3844