X-Message-Number: 4780
From:  (David Stodolsky)
Subject: RE: Patients staying in suspension
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 95 14:30:48 +0200 (CET DST)

In Regards to your letter :
> >The question is whether (organisational) patients have been lost when
> >people did *not* act in *bad faith*
> 
> >Is this such a hard question?
> 
>      It just isn't a completely *clear* question, David.  "Good faith" and 
> "bad faith" are fuzzy terms (and yes, Alcor uses them in its paperwork, 
> but they are still inexact).  
> 
>      As far as I am aware, the only patient who has been lost during the 
> last 20 years (since Nelson's failure at Chatsworth, which I agree 
> involved bad faith as well as bad planning) was the Alcor patient removed 
> from suspension in 1994.

[snip]
> 
>      I would even argue that in most of those cases the *relatives* acted 
> "in good faith."  They tried to freeze someone they cared about; but they 
> couldn't afford it.  Another example is the man who took on the 
> responsibility of maintaining his own wife and another patient in 
> suspension himself simply lacked the single-minded fanaticism and 
> attention to detail necessary to make such an arrangement work long-term.
> 

How about:

"No (failure of a) cryonics organization has ever been responsible for the 
loss of a patient"

(I exclude Nelson's company, because it was a one man operation and
can hardly be considered an organization. From a sociological standpoint,
an organization must have at least three members, if it is to be considered
immortal, that is, have an organizational culture which can be sustained
even when one of its members is lost.)

This should be kept in mind when there is discussion of patient
safety during suspension. It is also a good thing to be able to say
to prospective patients.

It also suggests that one reason behind the loss of patients and bad press
for cryonics has been excessive individualism.

dss

David S. Stodolsky      Euromath Center     University of Copenhagen
   Tel.: +45 38 33 03 30   Fax: +45 38 33 88 80 (C)


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