X-Message-Number: 8618
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 17:11:25 -0700 (MST)
From:  (Dave & Trudy Pizer)
Subject: Re: CryoNet #8611 - #8614

>Message #8612
>From: "William R. Cousert" <>
>Subject: Hospice care at cryonics facilities

> It seems to me that it should be possible to operate a hospice at cryonics
>facilities. This would allow the terminally ill to be quickly suspended
>after death. Why isn't this being done?

>William R. Cousert
>

Several reasons.

1.      Government officials don't understand how cryonics works and that
there is no money being made on cryonics at this early stage.  But they
think that if dying patients were allowed to die at the cryonics facility
(which might get $120,000.00 when the patient dies) that the cryonics
facility will hurry the death along and maybe even help kill people who
could have been cured with good medical care.

So the chances of autopsy would be increased in these situations.

2.      A hospice is expensive and takes several trained personel.
No cryonics companies can underwite the cost of several trained nurses, and
licensing, and keeping the legal requirements met, or other employees on
call, and other overhead, when the odds are that there might not even be one
patient a year for many years.

3.      It just as easy to put the patient in a nearby hospice and a few
days before death, have a team there.

Some states have in-house hospice laws which allows an apartment to become a
temporary hospice for the tenant.  So a dying person can rent an apartment
near their cryonics company.

However, I think a retirement/rest-home/hospice is needed some day as the
cryonics movement grows.  What I have witnessed is people who were signed up
cryonicists (sometimes for many years) not get frozen because when the
became older (and they did not think as clearly), and they were put in a
rest home or under the charge of noncryonicists who did not care if they got
a good suspension (at least as good as we can do in these early times -
which may not be good enough to save anyone??? We don't know), or in some
cases, they did not get frozen at all.  Their guardian canceled their
cryonics arangements and spent the money on other things.

My personal opinion is that one of the biggest dangers to cryonicists is
that when they get old, others will be put in charge of them and some
cryonicists just will not get frozen.

If the cryonics community would come up with the money, I would help create
a retirement community in Arizona through the nonprofit cryonics
organization  (but not a suspension organization) called "The Venturists."

We need a committment of at least one million dollars and the retirement
community could be created to be self-sustaining.

Dave Pizer

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