Monday, September 7, 2009

Cold Filter Forum is Like SA

At Suspended Animation, (SA), we used to have these staff meetings, where we discussed the on-going projects. Whenever someone objected to any of the projects, the discussion went pretty much nowhere. (And, no, I wasn't the only person objecting to Platt's projects, cryonicists Sullivan and de Wolf frequently had the same objections.) I don't know why we ever bothered to complain, as it was pointless. All that resulted was a lot of cowardly subversion, with Platt recruiting some of his highly-paid RUP's to help him (sometimes secretly) continue the projects, and somehow convincing Kent they were being productive. It's pretty much the same situation, on this forum. I come here and make valid arguments against what SA is doing, and Platt takes impressionable people behind the scenes, in private emails, where no one can refute his claims, and I end up fighting a never-ending battle of one "Luke" at a time. That's in addition to the lies that were told about me, and the personal attacks that were made on me, (and, that's pretty much the same as what went on, at SA, too...Sullivan, de Wolf and I, (and even some of the RUP's, on occasion), were frequent targets of character assassinations).

I've tried to walk away from cryonics, several times. When I quit SA, I didn't have anything to say about them, (other than to my husband and a couple of cryo-friends), for more than four months. I had other dragons to slay, and I really just wanted to put the stupidity of it all (SA) behind me. But, every day I thought about it...about how they were lying about their capabilities, and about how I felt Platt had totally, and absolutely, resisted any change that might have resulted in him logging fewer $50 hours, even if it would have meant we would have been taking steps toward a better level of patient care, and I got more and more angry, until I could no longer ignore the situation.

At some point, I realized how harshly I had treated a couple of people at SA, who are just ordinary people making a lot of money doing what their bosses have told them to do, and I tried to walk away, again. Then, I realized, (all over again), that maintaining the salaries of a few unqualified people does not justify harming patients, not even "legally dead" ones. Some of the people at SA are quite intelligent and talented in other areas, but they don't have the backgrounds required to carry out the procedures SA is selling, and I don't think the cryonics industry should suffer, so that these people can maintain their lifestyles. SA needs experienced people who can gain IV access on patients with no blood pressure, perform femoral cannulations and competently perform perfusion. With the money they have at their disposal, there's no excuse for them to be sending unskilled patient care providers.

Platt, de Wolf and I, (who were all at SA, together), could have probably rocked the world of cryonics, if he hadn't seen Aschwin and me as "the enemy." I had a lot of knowledge about the procedures we were supposed to be doing, Aschwin's talents are obvious on his "Depressed Metabolism" blog, and in addition to his writing and computer-related skills, Platt had a lot of influence with Kent. Unfortunately, Platt didn't want anything to change, at SA, and he fought everything Aschwin and I tried to do, "tooth and nail." Apparently, he was afraid that, if his amateur design and fabrication projects dried up, he would be out of a good income, though I don't think that's true. Platt probably believed deWolf and I simply wanted to get rid of him, but that's not true, either, (at least it wasn't, in the beginning). We just wanted him to do things differently, in ways that didn't defy common sense.

If I had it to do all over again, I would ask Kent AND Faloon to come spend a week in a room with Platt, de Wolf and me, and I would bring along a lot of documentation, and maybe even a medical professional, or two. Unfortunately, we can't go back to that time, and I don't seem to be able to let it go, and I'm really getting tired of fighting this battle one "Luke" at a time, with Platt always behind the scenes. Regardless, I won't walk away, again. I may walk in a new direction, but I won't walk away.

Now, my apologies to the moderator...As I recall, I'm not supposed to mention the name "Platt," but that is what this situation with Luke is all about. It's a replay of the situation, at SA, with me standing in the middle of the room, publicly stating SA's projects are beyond misguided and the cryo-equivalent of medical malpractice, and Platt taking people behind the scenes and convincing them, one at a time, that all is good. There's a reason people like Kent, Baldwin, and Platt won't publicly respond to my accusations of incompetence, and that reason should be quite obvious, to everyone.

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