X-Message-Number: 6238 Date: Sun, 19 May 1996 23:42:04 -0400 (EDT) From: Charles Platt <> Subject: CryoCare Receives New Patient for Cryopreservation On Thursday, May 16th, around 6 PM, I received a totally unexpected call from a man named Andrew Popper asking CryoCare to freeze his mother, Henrietta, who had died about twelve hours earlier in a hospital in New York City. CryoCare is cautious about taking last-minute cases where a patient has probably suffered ischemic injury and a relative is extremely distressed and may have unrealistic expectations about cryonics. In this case however it turns out that Andrew Popper has had an active interest in cryonics for thirty years and is very well informed. He adamantly wanted to have his mother frozen even though we warned him that his delay in contacting us had made it difficult to provide a high-quality cryopreservation. He also emphasized repeatedly that he could pay for the procedure without experiencing financial hardship. After quick consultation with Mike Darwin and CryoCare's president, Brian Wowk, I grabbed a set of sign-up documents and hurried to the hospital where I met Andrew and his father, Max, a feisty man of 93 who claims to be the world's oldest marathon runner and has made frequent media appearances in this connection. Both Max and Andrew had power of attorney for health care and signed all the various documents on Henrietta's behalf, including a waiver allowing CryoCare to publish details of the case. A local mortician who has helped with previous cryonics cases arrived at the hospital around 10 PM, bringing with him many bags of ice. Henrietta Popper was transferred to his vehicle, and Andrew and I followed him to his mortuary in Brooklyn. A quick examination of Henrietta showed surprisingly little evidence of rigor mortis, and the mortician told us that the hospital where she died happens to have an especially good storage facility that provides excellent cooling. Bearing in mind other cases where some perfusion had been possible despite long delays, Mike Darwin at the lab in California decided to attempt a perfusion. There were maddening problems dealing with the New York City bureaucracy, which has introduced complicated new regulations affecting cases of anatomical donation. (One of these regulations quixotically requires a date on the death certificate to be written in pencil, not ink.) After the first set of documents was rejected by the city's all-night office some time around 4 AM, a new set was drawn up, Andrew was fetched to add his signature, and the bureaucratic barriers were finally overcome just in time to transport Henrietta (whom I had repacked in additional ice) to the flight we had booked out of Kennedy Airport. She arrived at the lab in California later that day. Blood clotting and other problems with the circulatory system made perfusion almost impossible. Since I was not present during this phase of the case, I'll leave it to Mike Darwin to provide full details. Henrietta Popper is now making her slow journey down to -196 Celsius, and Andrew says that his only regret is in failing to sign her up earlier. I share his regret because I wish the cryopreservation team could have been at the hospital at the time of death. I know that some people reading this have put off signing up for cryonics for months or even years, and I urge them to stop procrastinating and PROCESS THE DOCUMENTS so that they, too, don't turn into last-minute cases. The obvious priority is to make arrangements BEFORE you suffer a health emergency. Whether you choose to sign up with CryoCare, ACS, Alcor, or CI is a secondary matter. Having said this, I'm still glad that Andrew finally chose cryonics for his mother, with whom he had often discussed the concept. I'm also pleased that we were able to respond promptly and efficiently, with help from a mortician whose staff literally stayed up all night wrestling with city bureaucrats. I note that the BioPreservation team was immediately available, and the only problems they reported were related to the physical condition of the patient. A more detailed description of this case will appear in the next CryoCare Report. Our schedule for the Report has been disrupted, incidentally, by my 6-week stay in California in connection with the Timothy Leary case. Members of CryoCare and subscribers to the Report will receive a double-size issue around the beginning of July. It will also appear on our web page (http://www.cryocare.org/cryocare) shortly after that time. --Charles Platt Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=6238