Was Harris' Defense of the Use of Propofol Convincing?

Recently, Steve Harris made a brief appearance on Cold Filter, where he played nice, (for a change), apologized to me for his past transgressions, and defended some cryonics practices I have questioned.

One of his defenses was related to the use of propofol, in cryonics. Basically, his argument consisted of one journal article, out of India, regarding CPR consciousness. I don't think that's enough to justify allowing, basically, anyone off the street to transport, administer, or have free access to, a drug such as propofol. The "RUP's" at Suspended Animation and Alcor have no business playing with this medication, and I believe the use of this drug, by unqualified personnel, puts the cryonics organizations at risk of being accused of murder, again, in the future.

I've witnessed many codes, during my education and my nine years working in heart surgery, and I don't recall a patient ever telling me they remember being aware of CPR efforts. None of my co-workers ever mentioned anyone being "awake" during CPR efforts, and I'm sure that's something that would have been mentioned. I've known a few people who have "died," but been revived, and they were totally unaware of the efforts that saved them. This past week, I asked two experienced paramedics about this issue. One has over 15 years of experience, and the other about 30 years of experience. Neither one of them thought this was an issue. As one of them said, "The only patients I've ever had, who claimed to be aware of anything during CPR, claimed to have had some sort of out-of-body experience."

Keep in mind, the patients receiving CPR in conventional medicine, unlike cryonics patients, have not been declared "legally dead," meaning the efforts are being applied in the hopes of immediately reviving them. No one has given up hope for THIS lifetime, yet, unlike they have, with cryonics patients. Since any cryonics patient with a propofol-armed standby team, nearby, has been in the process of dying, prior to the arrival of any such team, they are likely to be already heavily sedated. In addition, they've most likely been "dead" for several minutes before the cryonics team begins their efforts. Taking into consideration these factors, and others, cronics patients are much less likely to regain awareness, than patients in conventional medicine scenarios.

Essentially, Harris has merely made the "keep them down" cryonics argument, which in my opinion, is nothing more than the "we're so good, we might actually revive someone" propaganda. Personally, I give the RUP's virtually a zero-percent chance of reviving any of their clients, and think the propofol is just one more ruse designed to fool the public, (and, possibly, themselves), into thinking they are "medical professionals." As already pointed out, in addition to it probably being unnecessary, it adds to the possibility of cryonics care providers being accused of hastening the deaths of their clients.

I don't think Harris has made a convincing argument, for allowing people of questionable intelligence and ethics to be allowed to "play doctor" with medications such as propofol.

***Note: There could be an argument that propofol may provide cerebral protection, but I doubt many people working in cryonics understand this topic well enough to even discuss it. So far, I can only recall ONE person associated with cryonics ever mentioning this. Instead, cryonics documents indicate the drug is used to "maintain unconsciousness," and unqualified care providers go around spouting phrases like, "It's used to put them down and keep them down."

Melody Maxim - Cryonics Meets Medicine

Johnson Asks for Jury Trial in New York Case

I believe there may be court rulings, in both Arizona and New York, tomorrow, in the Alcor vs. Johnson cases. I am not an attorney, and I can't even pretend to be able to predict how the courts will rule, but I don't think Alcor has made their case, from a common sense point of view. They keep rambling on about "trade secrets," but I think their greatest "trade secret" has probably been that they have been sending just about anyone off the street to perform femoral cannulations and perfusion, and charging $80K-150K for it. There's nothing "state of the art," about their performance of these well-established medical procedures, as far as I can tell. Personally, I think almost anyone, (especially a judge!) should be able to see that the most likely scenario is that Alcor is not afraid of Johnson providing trade secrets to their virtually non-existent competition, but is extremely concerned with people knowing just how disgustingly incompetent and amateurish their patient care has been, for the most part.

Johnson hasn't worked there for six years. He hasn't revealed any "trade secrets," as far as I can tell, so I would guess he's very unlikely to do so, in the future. In addition, Alcor publishes almost anything, and everything, about their activities, on the Internet. If I were the judge, I would tell them to quit wasting my time, and order them to reimburse Mr. Johnson for his legal expenses.

Johnson's attorneys arguments seem sharp, and to the point. In my opinion, Alcor's arguments seem vague and confusing, and sprinkled with rhetorical insults. They rely on things like an affidavit from Platt, which seems to indicate Johnson stole an NDA from his file. Most people familiar with that situation knows there is about a 99.9999% chance that was a blatant lie. I think I'll limit my comments on Wowk's affidavit, by saying his remarks about Johnson and "trade secrets" seem just as lame as the rest of Alcor's remarks on this topic. Was he even working at the Alcor facility, when Johnson was there, or was he at the 21CM facility, in California? My guess is, he was probably just "doing his job," as a member of the Kent Clan, in producing the affidavit.

I'm wondering if Alcor has been intentionally delaying this case, hoping Johnson would run out of money. It will be interesting to see what happens, tomorrow. If the NY judge doesn't throw it out, Johnson's attorneys have filed a request for a jury trial. There's nothing like airing everyone's dirty laundry, in public. I'm sure Johnson has his flaws, (just as all of us), but I'm guessing Alcor's laundry has a lot more stains, than his.

The New York court documents can be read by going to:
http://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/webcivil/FCASMain
Search for Index Number 113938/2009, and click on "eFiled Documents" at the bottom of the case page.

Don't Drink the Kool-Aid

**Edited 12/10/09***


It's easy to see how cryonics organizations, such as Alcor and Suspended Animation, have remained subjects of public ridicule and doubt, when observing their supporters, (who do more harm, than good, if you ask me). Observe the Amazon.com book reviews for the Johnson/Baldyga book, "Frozen." More importantly, observe the comments under the book reviews.

Charles Platt, (who was implicated in unethical activities, in the book), wrote a three-sentence review, essentially calling the book "boring." He didn't call Johnson a liar, or deny anything in the book, simply stated it probably was "not very interesting." As of this morning, 32 out of 47 people found his comments "helpful." As I wrote on Amazon, I agree Platt's remarks were "helpful," in that knowing someone who has been accused of unethical activities, and who is one of the stars of Johnson's incriminating audiotapes, wants others to think the book is boring, but I don't think the voters were thinking along the same lines.

I, (a medical professional, who has worked in cryonics), wrote a review, and only 30 out of 68 people have found it "helpful." If one reads the comments under my review, they will find no small amount of lies, name-calling and personal attacks, (pretty much the same treatment I got, when I first started publicly exposing the incompetence, and unethical behavior, at Suspended Animation). I think it is safe to say the Kool-Aid drinkers are stacking the ballot boxes, when it comes to the public dissemination of information regarding cryonics organizations.

Cryonet is another fine example of the Kool-Aid drinkers attempting to suppress anything, and everything, that even remotely resembles a criticism of the cryonics organizations, and sometimes, even non-critical posts by people they don't like. Not long ago, someone complained about my posts not appearing due to my "rating being too low." Even my most inocuous posts were being rated as "flamebait." In my mind, nonsense like this is nothing more than the mostly-incompetent status quo, attempting to maintain their excessive salaries and "expert" status, by trying to quash any negative reviews of their work. Actions like these are probably motivated by fear, THEY KNOW my criticisms are accurate, so they don't want others to read them. If they had valid arguments to my criticisms, they would not attempt to quash my opinions, but would prove me wrong. Thankfully, a few open-minded, intelligent souls banded together, went back and gave all my posts positive ratings, so my future posts would appear.

When people respond to criticisms with only lies, personal attacks and attempts to quash the information, it indicates they have something to hide, and that the criticisms are most likely valid.