X-Message-Number: 7496 From: (Thomas Donaldson) Subject: Re: CryoNet #7430 - #7440 Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 14:05:06 -0800 (PST) Hi! While I think Mike is extreme about my optimism (after all, I accepted all his other figures showing the difficulty of good preservation!) I won't discuss that issue further. Mike listed 7 autopsies; by Alcor's count, 3rd Qtr 1996, Alcor had 32 patients in suspension. That IS approximately 20%, and I now have my question answered. However I will also ask another one: sure, the condition of the brains of each of these patients wasn't good at all. How many of them had just their bodies subject to autopsy, and how many had their brains autopsied? I already know that in some cases Alcor has been willing to accept suspension patients (such as the Como patient) which turned out to have brain autopsies. Is that true for every one of these 7? Whether or not it is true, dealing with MEs or Coroners takes away lots of valuable time. None of these patients can be said to have had anywhere close to a suspension state-of-the-art --- such as state-of-the-art is. Which leads to a second question: Alcor will now accept last-minute cases. Which of these were last-minute, and which had already arranged for their suspensions? (For a long time we've told people to sign up well in advance, yet they still come, even after death. If nothing else, it would be very useful to have statistics on just what happens if you DON'T sign up in advance! Not only that, but any measures we take to reduce the percentage of autopsies will probably only work for those who are already members). Mike's concerns are very appropriate, and deserve attention. All down the line --- not just in terms of finding some way to vitrify brains, but also finding a way to discover someone is in trouble earlier, to get the needed equipment to them earlier, to deal with legal people (like MEs and Coroners earlier -- all of these) need lots more work before any cryonicist can feel even moderately secure. It simply won't be enough to know how to reversibly vitrify brains --- a good advance, sure, but not really enough. And I thank him for discussing these statistics. As someone who is already lucky enough to escape (even if only for 9 years) death from a brain tumor, I'm happy to take whatever I can get. BUT I do think we can get much more if we all work at it. Best wishes, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=7496