X-Message-Number: 5037
From: 
Date: Sun, 22 Oct 1995 13:40:50 -0400
Subject: Cryostasis delays

Regardless of optimism or pessimism about chances in various circumstances,
everyone agrees it is important to minimize delays in treatment of cryostasis
patients. The Cryonics Institute sheep head work suggested that not just
promptness of  cooling, but also promptness of washout and perfusion, may be
more important than the details of the procedures, within fairly broad
limits. So how do we assure the best combination of minimum delay and optimum
procedure?

Some organizations advocate and offer teams of professionals traveling to the
site of death, preferably on standby before death occurs. One of the main
problems with this is the very high cost--especially if there are long or
repeated standbys and distant locations. 

Another main problem is the inherent slowness of response to distant
locations. Airline schedules alone can add many hours to the potential
delays.

Some organizations, or their local auxiliaries, attempt to improve matters
with teams of local volunteers or adjunct organizations at least to provide
"stabilization" services. So far, the results of this do not seem impressive,
and there is an inherent problem with volunteers and their competing personal
priorities and work schedules. 

The Cryonics Institute approach is to develop a network of cooperating
morticians, equipped and trained for washout and perfusion in addition to
their other functions. We believe this offers  multiple benefits, and few if
any irremediable drawbacks. In no particular order:

1. We have the benefits of working with recognized professionals in the
"death" field, having the "establishment" on our side and thus bypassing many
potential problems.

2. We have teams potentially available just about everywhere, who are
professional yet do not have to depend on a high volume of cryostasis
business for their livelihood. 

3. These are people already with basic education and training in anatomy and
surgery and simple types of perfusion. Their training and aptitude may not
generally match those of  surgeons or perfusionists--mortuary college
standards are not as high as those of medical schools--but demands on them
are also much narrower. To learn and practice any specific procedure--even a
complex and precise one--does not require the breadth or depth of an M.D.
surgeon. One might say that an M.D. (or D.O. or D.V.M.) surgeon is usually
over-qualified for such work, while the mortician can be trained in it fairly
readily. 

4. Morticians can be hired for a small fraction of the going rates for
physicians or perfusionists. Even repeated and extended standbys become
relatively affordable when the help is local and non-medical. Morticians also
have scales of help available--licensed funeral directors for surgery,
students and apprentices as cheaper helpers, office people for the telephone
and paper work. We merely have to adapt a network, not create one.

5. Morticians are much less likely to turn up unavailable owing to prior
commitments or different priorities. They are used to calling in colleagues
as fill-ins, and many of them have more blanks in their schedules than
physicians.

6. CI has already had patients prepared in this manner, with apparently
satisfactory results, although work still needs to be done to standardize
evaluation of performance. 

7. As opposed to the general reluctance of physicians, many morticians
 welcome this work as a challenge and a broadening of appeal and a chance to
do something more significant. In England, CI paid for the first transport
unit built by Barry Albin, and he has since built 4 more at his own volition
and expense, as well as contributing heavily to public relations there with
many media exosures. The fact that he himself is not a cryonicist more likely
than not adds to his effectiveness, rather than detracting from it. It tends
to show recognition and acceptance even by those not personally  involved, a
kind of ecumenism that tends to deflate hostility. 

8. The outstanding question remaining in some minds will perhaps be this:
When/if CI offers more complex procedures at higher cost, will the morticians
measure up? Will it cost too much to train and equip them? We can't have
wholly definitive answers yet, but I think the outlook is very positive.

Meanwhile, we already have in some locations, and (preferably with the help
of local members) can obtain in many other locations, morticians with the
ability to perform current CI procedures of washout and perfusion, in
addition to other functions. In the coming year(s) we expect substantial
expansion.

Robert Ettinger
Cryonics Institute
Immortalist Society


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