X-Message-Number: 8620 From: John de Rivaz <> Newsgroups: sci.cryonics Subject: Re: Hospice care at cryonics facilities Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 10:29:31 +0100 Message-ID: <> References: <5vupu5$j43$> In article: <5vupu5$j43$> "William R. Cousert" <> writes: > > 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 > A good idea, but the anwser to your question of why it isn't being done is the same as to the idea of why not have an old folks' home attached to a cryonics facility or why not have cryonics organisations offering life insurance as insurers rather than agents: The legal profession. The legal risks of conflict of interests lawsuits, and the legal costs of setting up such an operation are prohibitive. That way the legal profession protects the interests of other professions from having their profits directed elsewhere, in this case to cryonics. When many more people are attracted to cryonics it may be possible to have institutions like hospices run entirely by people sympathetic to cryonics, but these would be separate legal entities and the profits would not be directed by any binding agreement to a cryonic research or development organisation. Of course the shareholders of the hospice or other institution could as individuals volunteer their dividends, profits or salaries or whatever to cryonics. But that would go through various processes, such as taxation, on the way which would diminish them. These lossy processes can be reduced (such as by making a research organisation a charitable non-profit one) but again at great legal expense. The final result of all this is that, in the forseable future, Cryonicists are denied the opportunity of dying amongst people they are knowing are doing their very best for them. People will die in hospitals knowing that the personel around them are largely ignorant of or even actively unsympathetic to cryonics. Some of these personel will be looking at the bodies of patients as possible sources of spare parts or material for autopsy experiments. However perhaps the patients should be pleased to be giving their lives for the integrity of the professions.:-) -- ***************************************** Sincerely, * Longevity Report * * http://www.longevb.demon.co.uk/lr.htm * John de Rivaz * Fractal Report * * http://www.longevb.demon.co.uk/fr.htm * * Music I like - see homepage * ***************************************** In the information age, sharing can increase world wealth enormously, because giving information does not decrease your information. http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JohndeR Fast loading, very few slow pictures Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=8620