SA's New Director

Quote from SA's February 13 News Bulletin, which has still not been published on their website, as of March 22:

"NEW BOARD MEMBER

Suspended Animation is pleased to announce that Steve Harris, M.D., has joined our Board of Directors. Dr. Harris, who is President of Critical Care Research, has been a medical advisor and consultant for Suspended Animation for a number of years and we are glad have him as a Director. His biosketch is posted on the Suspended Animation website."

Note: Keep in mind that the people who made Steve Harris the "President of Critical Care Research" are most likely the same people who have now made him a "Director" of SA. Either one of those decisions is most likely only as good, (or as bad), as the other.

Here are some excerpts of SA's new Director's Internet postings on : http://yarchive.net/med/insults.html

"When an anonymous ignoramous with no medical knowledge gets on the nets and starts giving fatal medical advice, there are many appropriate types of responses. Calling them a son of a bitch is one.

Steve Harris, M.D."

"Now I'm calling you an asshole. And a dickhead. You and your libel lawyer can go over those words, and figure out how you're going to prove to a jury that you're not either one. Actually, I hope you see a lawyer about all this. And have to pay a retainer. Perhaps he'll note to you that accusing me of malpractise in public actually is actionable, whereas my calling you a son of a bitch is not. And why. It'll be quite educational for you. Prick.

Steve Harris, M.D."

"I await the AMA's learned decision. And do be sure to include the entire context of the exchange, so that the folks at the AMA can take the opportunity to call you a cowardly asshole themselves, "Cinque".

Steven B. Harris, M.D."

"In your dreams, you medical misinformation-spreading anonymous cowardly cretinous creep. P.S. You're still a son of a bitch. On this matter, feel free to quote me to anybody you like. The AMA, the CMB, the AFL...Cinque, may you jump in a lake and be unable to swim, and may your mother be unable to summon help, as she runs, barking, along the shore.

Steve Harris, M.D."

Steve Harris used the excuse of "being human" as justification for his behavior, but I know dozens of physicians, and hundreds of humans, quite well, and I don't personally know anyone else who behaves as offensively, and unprofessionally, as he does.

Here's the new Director of SA falsely accusing me of stealing a form that never existed:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/291677/message/1189561040/Re-+Harris-+Ignorant+cryo+providers+hire+perfusionists

If you can tolerate his offensive style of writing, and have the patience to dig through his posts on the "Cold Filter" forum, you can also find him falsely accusing me of not addressing the cannulae at SA, not updating the standby kit that would be used for patients (the "A" kit), giving SA the "run around" about my past employment history/case experience, and perhaps a few more things. You can also find him admitting, on more than one occasion, that he had no way of knowing what went on, on a daily basis, at SA, while I was there. Therefore we can only be left believing this man made false accusations against another medical professional, based on gossip. I believe he and Charles Platt, (someone who did work at the SA facility while I was there), were working together, at the time, so make your own assumptions about where Harris' information came from. Now, read Charles Platt's statement, regarding those accusations:

I. Ms. Maxim did present her CV/resume to SA, via email, in February 2006. At no time during her affiliation with SA were her employment history, or credentials, questioned by myself or any other party, to the best of my knowledge. Ms. Maxim never refused to give information about her past work as a perfusionist, and I have every reason to believe she would have provided additional references and/or information, had she been asked.

II. I cannot recall whether Ms. Maxim signed a nondisclosure agreement, and I have no way of knowing where various documents were kept at SA. Therefore I have no evidence to suggest that she removed such documents from the office. If my past speculation implied improprieties on her part, I apologize.

III. Although Ms. Maxim was not hired initially as General Manager, she proved to have such exceptional people skills, modesty, and balanced judgment, I have become convinced that she would have been the best possible manager, and I deeply regret that I never had the opportunity to work for her personally.

IV. The perfusion circuit in the "A" kit was not an "old version" when Ms. Maxim resigned from SA. One month after she became a fulltime employee, she and another SA employee replaced the circuit in the "A" kit with the perfusion circuit Ms. Maxim had designed for SA, as a consultant. The new circuit included a hardshell reservoir and other modifications. My public statements that the circuit was an "old version" were based on the fact that the plastic holder for the circuit was the old version. The holder, in no way, affects the performance of the circuit, and would have been fine the way it was.

V. Ms. Maxim did offer valuable advice, regarding cannulae, but unfortunately lacked authority to implement that advice by making substitutions in standby kits. I do not know which cannulae ended up in the kits at various times, but I certainly agree that Ms. Maxim was not responsible for the inventory when a case occurred five (5) months after her resignation.

VI. Immediately after her resignation from SA, I was dismayed and concerned when Aschwin de Wolf and Saul Kent told me that she would be unavailable for any future cases. I am delighted to learn that she is now available, and she would clearly be an asset who would be welcomed by any standby team. Since she was not asked to participate in the case during 2007, naturally I do not blame her for failing to do so, and I apologize if any remarks created this impression.

Charles Platt

February 12, 2008
http://www.network54.com/Forum/291677/message/1202871615/Agreement+between+Melody+Maxim+and+Charles+Platt

If you weed through even more of Steve Harris' posts, you can find him calling me "a nit and a naif" for not believing the cardiovascular surgeons I worked with in the 90's were earning $50,000 a case. (The surgeons I worked with were paid $4,000 a case, about average, for the time.) If anyone is a "nit and a naif," it's Harris, himself.

You can also find him demanding I show HIM my credentials, six-to-eight months after I resigned from SA, when he had no authority at that company. I'm sure most people found this as unreasonable and absurd as I did.

I believe Harris was trying to imply he wasn't doing well as a physician, in outpatient geriatrics, in Utah, because no one was, in this post: http://www.network54.com/Forum/291677/message/1189640802/Thought+I+heard+a+breeze+from+some+electrons
We live in an aging population, and he wasn't doing well in geriatrics? Why didn't he just move to Florida? I'm sure there are plenty of old folks to go around, here. My guess is, Harris shifted his focus to cryonics, rather than conventional medicine, for reasons other than a lack of geriatric patients, (and my guess isn't "commitment to the advancement of the field of cryonics").

Let's see...what else...

Oh...there's a post where Harris pretends like I was negligent for not connecting a blender and compressed gases to the vitrification circuit in SA's "operating room," a circuit that was a filthy prototype that included an oxygenator that had expired more than a decade before I worked there, and hasn't been manufactured in many years. Never mind that it has yet to be proven there is any benefit from administering oxygen, or any other gas, during the vitrification process. There was no need for compressed air, or a gas blender, to be connected to that circuit. Harris apparently didn't know how foolish he was making himself look, in his attempts to discredit me.

And, finally, the "kicker"...
SA was relying on Harris, as the acting medical consultant to talk a golf pro and two fabricators through performing whole-body perfusion, and other medical procedures, over the telephone, during Cryonics Institute's "CI-81" case. Harris stated he would have instructed the SA team to give more heparin, during that case, IF THEY HAD ASKED HIM. Does anybody reading this think an M.D. should believe a golf pro and two shop workers would know to ask??!!! Make note that in this same post, Harris takes credit for helping to design the protocols that call for a "whopping dose of heparin," yet he did not make sure the patient got that "whopping" loading dose, nor the required maintenance doses. (Heparin prevents blood from clotting.) Read all about it, here: http://www.network54.com/Forum/291677/message/1189483014/Re-+Misquotations+and+Creative+Writing

IS THIS THE KIND OF LEADERSHIP CRYONICISTS WANT FOR THE COMPANIES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FUTURE CRYOPRESERVATION OF THEMSELVES AND/OR THEIR LOVED ONES???

Keep in mind that not everyone who has the letters "MD" after their name behaves competently, responsibly, and/or ethically.