X-Message-Number: 5724 From: Garret Smyth <> Newsgroups: sci.cryonics,uk.legal,sci-life-extension Subject: Re: Death (was Donaldson MR and Miss Hindley) Date: Sun, 11 Feb 96 19:01:36 GMT Message-ID: <> References: <> <> "John Sharman" writes: > ...You start successfully > thawing out a few frozen stiffies and then we'll worry about the laws to > cope with them. But not until then. There are interesting uk legal problems associated with cryonics, so there is no reason not to discuss them in uk.legal. Perhaps the automatic cross posting of messages is what has brought on the flame war. A problem already discussed, but that would bear further examination, is the precise legal definition of death. Given the Suda experiments (frozen and thawed cat brains showed spontaneous electrical activity) back in the sixties, and improved suspension procedures for humans that we have now, it is quite feasible that if we thawed out a well suspended patient they might show brain activity - ie be alive under the current brain criteria. It would be a bit of a phyrric vicory, at least for the patient, since they would die again shortly afterwards (we can't, after all, replace all the damaged cells and organs yet, or reverse ageing), but it would at least allow the rest of us to demand that suspendees were accorded proper legal rights. And, did you know that people are being thawed out sucessfully? I admit that my use of the word "people" is a little contentious here, but then it depends on your religion/philosophy. I refer to human embryos. Regarded by many as people, fertilised embryos are regularly frozen, stored, thawed, implanted and become normal kids. I hope no one is going to call the people who consider embryos to be people weird or loony. Perhaps there is someone out there who could give a summary of the act dealing with storage of human embryos, and the current problem it has lead to? (I don't recall the name of the act, but I'm pretty sure "Human" and "Embryo" come into the title.) TTFN Garret -- Garret Smyth Phone: 0181 789 1045 or +44 181 789 1045 Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=5724