More DIY Foolishness and an Appeal to Max More

For anyone who has been wondering what inspired my last blog entry, it was the recent news about 21CM's intermediate temperature storage (ITS) unit, at Alcor. I was just wondering why Alcor didn't call up one of the many companies that manufacture cryogenic freezers, instead of funding another DIY project.

Did Brian Wowk, Stephen Valentine and Michael Iarocci bill LEF a small fortune, over a long period of time, for their ITS project, (and the cost of a patent), when a cryogenic freezer manufacturer could have delivered a spec-device, in a short time, for a reasonable price? How long has the ITS project been going on, and how many decades will it continue? Will it ever end, or will it linger on, like the liquid ventilation project? What is the true value of the associated patent?

Why DO cryonics companies seem determined to do nothing more than continually engage in endless engineering projects, mostly carried out by amateurs? Year-after-year, decade-after-decade, little-to-no REAL scientific research...just endless equipment fabrication projects, when most of the equipment could be purchased. Wouldn't it make more sense to outsource the ITS project, to a company that specializes in cryogenic containers, so that biophysicist Brian Wowk could work on improving those extremely toxic vitrification solutions?

Recently, on lesswrong.com, Dr. Wowk seemed to be arguing that Alcor's solutions are so extremely toxic, it doesn't matter how much additional damage the amateur patient care providers, at Suspended Animation and/or Alcor, inflict on Alcor's members, while attempting to perform the medical procedures needed to deliver the washout and vitrification solutions. So, why does his primary work seem to involve inventing/engineering? Has anyone, (other than Saul Kent, or Alcor), expressed interest in the patents of Brian Wowk, Steve Harris, and others being funded by LEF?

Yesterday, on the Cold Filter forum, Charles Platt indicated he doesn't believe Alcor meets the requirements of a non-profit agency. (I, and others, agree.) Mr. Platt seems to think Alcor could meet the requirements by engaging in, yet another, Rube Goldberg-esque project. In regard to an intermediate temperature storage unit, he laments "... I would not be surprised if the prospect of fabricating something more complex and totally different would seem very unwelcome to people at Alcor who feel they have better things to do...While I was at Alcor in 2003, I brought in Todd Huffman to do some preliminary testing of a simple ITS design, and I wrote about this in Alcor News. After Huffman left, I don't think anything more was done or said on this topic." It is BEYOND absurd for Mr. Platt to think having the Alcor staff assume the task of engineering a cryogenic freezer is a good idea, and cryonics DIY equipment projects probably do not qualify as real research, when it comes to "not-for-profit" status.

When are cryonics organizations going to engage in some REAL medical-science research, and stop wasting all their time and money on glorified garage projects? (Not specifically referring to the ITS device, but to the abundant DIY projects, in cryonics.)

To the new Alcor CEO, Mr. More...do your best to determine if ITS is really the best way to go. If you believe it is, determine the required specifications, and then consult with several manufacturers of cryogenic freezers...unless, of course, you think amateur engineering projects constitute "research," and you won't mind sitting around, watching the same small group of DIY-ers bill Alcor and LEF for this project, for many years to come. If Alcor is going to charge $200,000 to preserve bodies, with the implied promise of a possible future resurrection, they should make an effort to provide qualified personnel using professionally-built equipment; not laymen using their own garage-project devices. Take all the money you save on these endless, (and mostly fruitless) projects, and spend it on REAL research, (carried out by scientists, not unqualified laymen, please).

Cryogenic Storage Containers

When considering the various aspects of cooling, transporting and storing human bodies, at cryogenic temperatures, did anyone at Alcor, or the LEF-funded organizations, think of googling "cryogenic freezers"? Did they consult with any of the companies, which manufacture cryogenic containers? Let me guess...instead of consulting with experts in the manufacture of cryogenic containers, most research dollars directed toward that area of cryonics went into the pockets of people like Wowk, Harris and Platt, and other LEF-funded staff members, or to companies like Home Depot, (where I'm sure all reputable manufacturers of cryogenic containers, and other medical equipment, purchase their supplies).

I saw it, myself, at SA...huge amounts of money being spent on the amateur efforts of several highly-paid staff members, attempting to build a cryogenic container, when a basic professionally-built model could have been had for approximately $2500. This was just one of the many kooky "R&D" projects, at SA. When is Saul Kent going to realize he hasn't been funding valid "research," in regard to projects such as these? How many times has anyone, outside the very small sea of cryonics, been impressed, by any of their DIY equipment projects?

Alcor and Cryonics Institute suspend their clients in liquid nitrogen vapor. Have they addressed the issues of temperature variation in this type of storage? What about contamination issues? Do they acknowledge these issues to their members, and potential members, (people who may be charged up to $200,000, to be suspended in liquid nitrogen vapor, at Alcor)?

From this article http://www.btc-bti.com/applications/cryogenicstorage.htm :

"In larger liquid nitrogen freezers, vapor phase gradients have been documented to span the glass transition temperature of water, at times reaching -72°C (White and Wharton, 1984), -70°C (Wolfinbarger, 1998), and -95°C (Rowley and Byrne, 1992). The wide temperature ranges observed with liquid nitrogen storage systems is inherent to their operation...

...Below -130°C, even the most temperature sensitive cells are estimated to survive for hundreds of years. However, above this temperature the longevity of cells is reduced to months."

There's a lot of interesting information in the above article, and many others, which have been published by people experienced in the construction of cryogenic containers. Wouldn't contracting with such a company be the logical thing to do, rather than funding amateur design and engineering projects? A few more tens of millions of dollars, and another couple of decades, and perhaps the amateur engineers of the cryonics industry will catch up to where the manufacturers of cryogenic containers were, 20 years ago.

Don't let these people fool you, (or take your $200K, or your trust fund, or estate). Others have been capable of cryogenically freezing things, (both large and small), within a narrow range, just below glass transition temperatures, ("intermediate temperature storage"), for years. Just google "cryogenic freezer glass transition," (without the quotation marks), and see for yourself.

Why I Believe Cryonics Should be Regulated

About four-and-a-half years ago, I stumbled into the world of cryonics. It was a cosmic accident, of sorts; I REALLY needed a job, and there was an ad on Monster.com, for a position at an alleged research company, doing something related to perfusion. The company turned out to be Suspended Animation, a cryonics facility located very near my home, so I forwarded my resume. When I answered the ad, I was told the position, (a management position), had already been filled, but they were interested in my perfusion background, so they invited me to do some consulting work. I was told SA's "research" mostly consisted of building equipment for performing cryopreservations, and was assured all their activities were perfectly legal.

Having participated in surgical procedures, which require cooling people to a state of "death," for short periods of time, for certain repairs to the aorta, I probably find the notion of cryonics a little less bizarre than most. On top of that, I truly believe people should have their last wishes carried out, if at all possible and legal, no matter what those of us left behind want for them. I accepted the consulting work, which mostly consisted of answering their questions about perfusion, and building some very simple perfusion circuits. A short time later, I was offered a very well-compensated fulltime position, which I also accepted. It was a mere five months, before I walked away, in total disgust.

Fairly early on, it became clear to me that these people were simply trying to build equipment for performing procedures, which are fundamentally the same as procedures that have been performed in heart surgery for many decades. Suspended Animation wanted to gain vascular access, and replace the blood of their recently-deceased clients, (people who had made arrangements for cryopreservation), with an organ preservation solution, while cooling them down to near zero degrees Celsius. After that, they were to transport the bodies to another cryonics facility, (either Cryonics Institute in Michigan, or Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Arizona), where the bodies would be perfused with a cryopreservative solution, and cooled to cryogenic temperatures, before being placed in storage.

When I tried to convince my manager that the equipment SA needed to perform these procedures already existed, I was met with a tremendous amount of resistance. I wanted to believe that person was simply ignorant of vascular cannulations and perfusion and the related equipment, but it was impossible to believe that, for very long. It soon became quite clear to me that he did not want to use existing equipment because the "research" we were doing was the construction of HIS designs. Not only were his designs vastly inferior to existing equipment, but they were exponentially more expensive than existing equipment, due to the man-hours involved. He was easily making six figures, and he was paying several people, very generously, to assist him with his "R&D" projects, none of which would have made sense to anyone familiar with the medical procedures SA was trying to deliver. (He was also engaging in adolescent, manipulative behaviors, such as asking his employees to spy on one another, and coercing them into allowing him to use their email addresses, to support his own projects and further his political agendas.)

At first, I was unaware of the amount of money involved, so when I was told SA couldn't buy certain equipment, or hire qualified personnel, because such things were "too expensive," I believed those lies. Later, I found out Suspended Animation was receiving over a million dollars a year, from Life Extension Foundation (LEF) / Saul Kent and Bill Faloon. Others at Suspended Animation agreed with me, that the many of the projects were a ridiculous waste of time and money, but at least two of them encouraged me to "play along," so we could all keep collecting our very generous salaries. It's hard to blame them, for wanting that. We could come and go, as we pleased, or sit at our desks playing on the Internet all day, and no one would complain...at least not for so long as we didn't object to the mind-bendingly ridiculous design and fabrication projects, going on in the workshop.

When I left Suspended Animation, I left believing Mr. Kent and Mr. Faloon were the victims of a con artist, who had a few very generously-paid puppets supporting him...that IS truly what I believed. Mr. Faloon had never set foot in the facility, while I was there, and I think Mr. Kent had only visited three, or four, times, usually just for a few hours. I tried to walk away and not look back, but four months after my resignation, I decided I could not sit by, in silence, while a group of laymen, armed with "garage project" equipment, tried to charge $60,000 for procedures, which are normally performed by vascular surgeons and perfusionists, (even if the recipients were already dead). It was "false advertising" in the very least, in my opinion.

I began writing about SA's activities, on the Internet, thinking people in the cryonics community would be appalled, and something would be done about the activities at the small facility, in Boynton Beach, Florida. Imagine my surprise, when someone with the initials "MD" after his name, (someone on the opposite coast of this country, someone who had never worked with me), defended that organization by posting a number of blatant, vicious lies about my activities there. This physician is someone who has been performing surgical experiments for cryonics purposes, on dogs, for many years. His co-workers, at Critical Care Research, in Rancho Cucamonga, California, are said to be three of his family members and they, too, are funded by LEF / Mr. Kent and Mr. Faloon. According to LEF's Form 990s, CCR received in excess of $900,000, in 2008. This person, someone who did not hesitate to publish vicious lies about a medical professional he had never met, (and sees no harm in placing dangerous general anesthetic drugs, such as propofol, in the hands of laymen he does not know), has been earning a bundle, working in cryonics, for many years. He has been caught in numerous lies and mistakes, regarding the procedures Alcor and Suspended Animation are attempting to perform. There's more like him...not physicians, but others who seem willing to misrepresent their capabilities and deceive the public, in exchange for salaries and benefits most REAL medical professionals will never see.

It is no longer possible for me to believe what I witnessed was an isolated bit of corruption, and the picture gets bigger, by the year. It's also no longer possible for me to think of Mr. Kent and Mr. Faloon as victims; they can't possibly be THAT blind to what goes on at their organizations. Just recently, Mr. Kent has been associated with a new push to market cryonics in Europe, with the leader of that effort being a silly young man who has held positions of power in the Church of Satan, and the Temple of Vampires. The new cryonics "leader," someone who seems to be supported by Saul Kent and Ben Best, is not a medical professional, or a scientist, but a known cult member in organizations thought, by most, to be nothing more than pyramid schemes? That's beyond ridiculous, and it makes it VERY hard to believe Mr. Kent, Mr. Best and their peers are actually interested in advancing the science of hypothermic medicine.

For forty years, cryonics "research" has primarily consisted of laymen attempting to build equipment that already exists, and laymen trying to train other laymen how to perform the tasks of paramedics, perfusionists, and vascular surgeons...much of this time with the benefactors having ample funding to provide the real thing, in regard to both equipment and personnel. Organizations such as Alcor and Suspended Animation, which want to charge $60,000 to $150,000, (not to mention other extra charges, or years worth of membership dues), are not capable of preserving brains and/or bodies in a condition likely to be viable in the future. People associated with these companies, have been known to encourage people, not only to leave hefty life insurance policies with their organizations listed as the beneficiaries, to pay for these amateur surgical procedures, but to leave their estates and irrevocable trusts to cryonics organizations.

Some cryonicists make the seemingly-valid argument that people like Saul Kent and Bill Faloon contribute MILLIONS of dollars, each year, to cryonics organization, with no return. To be honest, I really can't figure it out, but something is seriously wrong with two allegedly-stellar businessmen, to be funding what appears to be mostly a scam. Then, again, the "tipping point" to earn money, at those prices, (not to mention the donations of irrevocable trusts, and bequests), must be relatively low. My guess is, even a small percentage of the funerary business must be worth exponentially more than they have been putting into their cryonics ventures.

Again, I have no problem with people receiving their last wishes. If people want to be cryopreserved, I think they should have that right. BUT...companies should not be allowed to deceive people who wish to be cryopreserved. They should not be allowed to publish photos of what looks like medical professionals performing surgery, but in actuality, is a group of laymen playing doctor with a dead body...people whose incompetency will result in their clients being left warm (and decaying), for many hours while they struggle to perform a vascular cannulation, or people whose brains will be underperfused or turned to mush, by laymen who have no idea how to properly and safely operate a perfusion circuit. Cryonics companies should not be allowed to refer to laymen as "Chief Surgeon," "Surgeon," "Perfusionist," when these people hold no medical credentials. IT'S FRAUDULENT.

It is time for legislators, (both here, in the US, and abroad), to recognize cryonics scams, and to restrict laymen from performing surgical procedures on dead bodies, (I don't know why licensed embalmers, (other than those in the State of Michigan), haven't already done something about this. Maybe the numbers just aren't big enough to worry them, yet.) It's also time for regulators to sanction medical personnel who enable laymen to have access to dangerous prescription medications, and engage in other unethical activities, related to cryonics. It's time...it's past time.

Charles Platt's Excuse for Cryonics Fraud

On Cold Filter, Charles Platt writes: "I believe the original rationale for referring to cryopreserved human beings as "patients" was to remind all those involved that the human beings are not necessarily irreversibly dead, and therefore should be treated with the same care and conscientiousness as if they were everyday patients." http://www.network54.com/Forum/291677/message/1287543217/the+reason+for+the+neologism

And the excuse for referring to people like Michael "Mike Darwin" Federowicz, Catherine Baldwin and many others, (some who may have no more formal education than a high school diploma), as "surgeons" is to remind people of what? It's not to "remind" people of anything; it's to DECEIVE people.

If Platt thinks people being cryopreserved "should be treated with the same care and conscientiousness as if they were everyday patients," why did he send a golf pro and two fabricators from SA's workshop, (three people with NO medical educations, or experience, whatsoever!), to perform advanced medical procedures??? Is that the kind of care HE wants, if he ever shows up at an emergency room, in need of heart surgery? (The procedures Platt sent three laymen to perform are fundamentally the same as procedures performed in open-heart surgery.)

Alcor and Suspended Animation refer to people as "surgeons" and "patients," along with all those images of people in surgical settings, wearing surgical garb, to create the illusion of medical professionals performing cryonics procedures, and that is FRAUDULENT.

(Note: Alcor's photos appear to be of people, (mostly laymen, I believe), actually attempting to perform medical procedures on the deceased, while Suspended Animation's photos are staged photos of laymen pretending to be performing medical procedures.)

Let's not forget Suspended Animation's manager and pseudo-surgeon, Catherine Baldwin, clumsily using a barrage of medical terminology, in what appears to be an attempt to deceive the public, regarding the quality of SA's services:
http://cryomedical.blogspot.com/2010/09/catherine-baldwin-just-another.html
http://cryomedical.blogspot.com/2010/10/impersonating-physician.html

And, let's not forget all the mistakes Alcor's Chief Medical Advisor, Steve Harris MD, has made, in regard to medications and hypothermic medical procedures.
http://cryomedical.blogspot.com/2010/07/more-misinformation-from-alcors-chief.html
http://cryomedical.blogspot.com/2010/07/alcors-chief-medical-advisor-displays.html

Charles Platt Defends Cryonics Propaganda

Though Charles Platt has told various people he is no longer very involved in cryonics, and he frequently criticizes the Cold Filter Cryonics forum, he can't seem to stay away...especially from MY posts. Not long ago, he went ballistic, when I agreed with a Ted Williams' relative's remark that the TW case notes were "disgusting." Yesterday, Platt responded to a post I made, more than three weeks ago, with this:

"I co-wrote the text that has been quoted, and thus noticed that the quote omitted the preceding sentence, which provides context. Here is the full version (from www.alcor.org/AboutCryonics/index.html):
"Cryonics is the speculative practice of using cold to preserve the life of a person who can no longer be supported by ordinary medicine. The goal is to carry the person forward through time, for however many decades or centuries might be necessary, until the preservation process can be reversed, and the person restored to full health."
Emphasis added.
Since it is the goal of a speculative practice--no, obviously it is not a promise or a guarantee."

Charles Platt http://www.network54.com/Forum/291677/message/1284788088/context

In this context, stating that cryonics is "speculative" is just a form of deception, in my opinion, meant to distract people from the fact that cryonics organizations allow just about anyone off the street to perform vascular cannulations and perfusion, (well-established medical procedures, which are NOT "speculative"). Platt stating, (on behalf of Alcor), that cryonics is "speculative" is NOT the same as admitting Alcor is known to allow unqualified personnel to attempt to perform medical procedures, for which they have received NO formal training. Of course, open-heart surgery would probably be a lot more "speculative" if the people in control were sending golf pros and metal fabricators, to perform these procedures, (something Platt did, for a cryonics "patient," at Suspended Animation).

Obviously, Mr. Platt missed this (something else I wrote on CF):

"Until I see, on the websites of Alcor and SA, either the names and qualifications of people who are qualified to competently provide vascular cannulations and perfusion, or a BIG BOLD disclaimer at the top of the page, stating something like "The people performing our procedures may have no formal medical education or training, and may not be competent in performing our surgical procedures," I am going to cross over to the side of people favoring the stringent regulation of cryonics." http://www.network54.com/Forum/291677/message/1281789823/This+is+not+a+%26quot%3Bfeud%26quot%3B

Platt, (my former supervisor at Suspended Animation), has been complaining about me mentioning his name, for more than three years, but the truth is I very rarely mention him, when he refrains from posting nonsense. I'm having a really hard time believing he sincerely wants me to ignore him, when he persists in responding to my posts. I did not realize he wrote the comment I criticized, but if he wants to take credit for that particular piece of distraction, (smoke and mirrors, propaganda, BS, etc.), let's give credit where credit is due.

Cold Filter Cryonics Forum Antics Get More Bizarre by the Day

This has been one of the funniest weeks on the Cold Filter forum, ever! First, a few people made fools out of themselves, trying to pretend I committed libel, in my post about Alcor membership dues, which clearly does not contain any libelous remarks. (See previous post.)

Now, we have Charles Platt, of all people, advising the CF moderator, on how to avoid being held responsible for charges of defamation. That's hilarious!!! As everyone might recall, Platt and I used to work together, at Suspended Animation. Sometime after that, during 2007, Platt was working with Steve Harris MD, (Alcor's Chief Medical Advisor), at Critical Care Research. At that time, Harris posted a lot really stupid blatant lies, about my work at SA, though he didn't really know me, and had never worked with me or even visited the SA building while I was working there. He posted these lies...yup, you guessed it...on the Cold Filter forum. It was obvious where the lies came from, so I threatened to sue everyone from Kent on down, if Platt did not publish some sort of retraction, and apologize. Platt hired an attorney and posted this, which clearly proves the stories Harris was publishing on the Cold Filter forum were false.

Now, we have Platt advising the Cold Filter moderator, on how to avoid being involved in a defamation suit??? Is it just me, or is that just really weird and funny? If anyone has ever brought the CF moderator to the brink of a defamation lawsuit, it was when Harris libeled me, with false information he, very obviously, got from Platt! After all that, Platt feels he is someone who should be advising the CF moderator on avoiding defamation charges? Seriously...that's BEYOND hilarious...it doesn't get much funnier than this!

Interesting Events on Cold Filter Cryonics Forum

There were some very interesting reactions to my recent post on the Cold Filter forum, regarding Alcor's membership dues. I pondered why anyone should pay membership dues, to Alcor, given that they are known to provide "last minute" services, to people who have never signed up for Alcor's services, much less paid membership dues. For example, they provided services to legendary baseball hero, Ted Williams, at the time of his death, at the request of his son, though Ted Williams had never filled out Alcor's paperwork, or paid membership dues. This is just one of many examples in which Alcor has provided services to people who have never paid membership dues. I know of at least one recent cryopreservation they performed, free of charge, and I suspect there are many others. It's my opinion that they do these cases for the sake of publicity, and I consider such cases to be a "slap in the face," to the dues-paying Alcor members, who have diligently filled out their paperwork, and have their insurance in place. (See my previous blog entry, on this topic.)

First, "FD" responded to my post, alluding to the inherent dangers of blogging. (He seems to think I'm too stupid, to have considered possible repercussions.) When I responded that he should let the people I write about make their own threats, he responded with an even more detailed expression of "concern," asking if I have media-publishing insurance, and pondering whether a judgment would be limited to the amount of my coverage, or if someone might get my insurance "PLUS all (my) life savings." (Either FD really IS threatening me, or he really DOES think I'm stupid.) He goes on to mention my blog index, as though I don't know it's there.

Then Mathew Sullivan, of Suspended Animation, seemed to be praying to the gods, (okay, so they're only "the powers that be," in an extremely small population), in a really weird post, for someone to take action against me, for what I wrote. If Mathew knew what I thought about that, maybe he wouldn't pray so hard.

Are Mathew and FD so arrogant, they believe no one else on the forum will realize they were not really giving me "friendly" advice? Surely, no one who has been reading my CF posts and my blog entries, for the last three-and-a-half years, thinks I am too stupid to realize I am responsible for my own words. I've even stated, on numerous occasions, (which I am sure FD and Mathew are aware of), that I am willing to stand behind my opinions, in any court in this land. How much more clear could I make it for them? Did either of them really think anyone was going to fall for that "we were just trying to help her with some friendly advice, and the moderator fussed at us, boo-hoo, wah, wah, wah" routine? If they thought I, or anyone else, would believe FD was genuinely concerned about my financial welfare, I'm going to have to question their intelligence.

The most interesting part of the discussion was when the moderator stepped in and indicated people had been threatening to sue him, if he did not "delete certain posts," which I can only assume to be mine, since I haven't threatened any such action against him, (at least, not recently). Now that we see Platt's post, we can only assume Mr. Platt was the person making threats against the moderator. Why are Platt, Sullivan and FD, making threats, in response to a post I made about Alcor? None of them work at Alcor, as far as I know, (though the anonymous FD might work there, I suppose), and none of them were mentioned in the post they are reacting, so strongly, to. Isn't Alcor capable of speaking for their own organization, and doesn't Alcor have plenty of attorneys, working on their behalf?

FD, Sullivan, Platt, et. al. are just trying to intimidate the CF moderator, and me, and it's just plain silly. Why should we take such warnings from those three individuals, seriously? One of them has a very long history of people accusing him of being less than honest, and one of them is anonymous. If Alcor, or anyone else, was going to sue the CF moderator, or me, I'm sure we would be receiving letters from attorneys, not "friendly advice," on Cold Filter.

I don't know about the CF moderator, but the minute I get any sort of legal notice, I am going to immediately "lawyer up," call the media, and file whatever counter-suits might be available to me. If any of my CF posts, or blog entries, (all of which I consider to be "free speech," and none which I consider to be legally "actionable"), are removed from the Internet, I will add "call the ACLU" to my list.

I'm wondering if people think my forum posts and blog entries have not been backed up and made ready to publish elsewhere, when they ask the CF moderator to remove them. Also, have they considered the possibility of others archiving my posts? I know, for a fact, someone was archiving my every published word, at least up until less than a year ago, and not at my request, (and it wasn't Johnson). I don't know, or care, if they are still doing so.

I believe there's a very long history, in cryonics, of people attempting to prevent the airing of "dirty laundry," with scare tactics, which are very transparent and tiresome. If someone wants to sue me, they should have their lawyer call my lawyer. Otherwise, these empty threats and attempts to quash my free speech, (from persons not even officially connected to the organization I have been criticizing), only encourage me to write more, (as should be obvious, at this point).

Sentence Structure (Unfinished Business from Recent Cold Filter Discussions)

If A, publicly, says to B: "Didn't you do X, when you told us Y happened?" A is implying B previously stated Y occurred.

When Platt called Alcor and asked people to look in Johnson's file for an NDA, (as he claims, in legal documents, to have done), he's implying an NDA actually existed, (something highly unlikely). (See below.)

When Platt called Suspended Animation and asked someone to look in my employee file for an NDA, (as he claims to have done), he was implying there had been an NDA in my file, when no such document ever existed.

When Harris published the false statement that my SA employee file was kept in my office, (it wasn't), and my (non-existent) NDA disappeared along with me, when I resigned, it was clear where he was getting his false information, since Platt who was working with Harris at the time had worked with me, at SA, and made the very same (false) accusation, against Larry Johnson.

When Platt publicly responds to something I wrote with, "Didn't you express contrition, when you told us that your therapist suggested it would be a good idea to let go of your anger?" he is being dishonest, yet again. I have never been advised by a therapist to "let go of (my) anger," and I certainly never made any such statement.

When I complained about Platt's distortion of the truth, he defended it as a question, and suggested a proper answer from me should have been a simple "no." My answer is that it was not a question, but an exercise in sophistry, a technique I believe Platt uses, on a regular basis.

The lessons in this are:

Sometimes people who have a (well-known) habit of lying spew forth their garbage in the form of questions, and...

Beware of questions from a cryonicist, well-known for producing fiction."

From Johnson's attorneys, in the New York court documents (Document #12, dated Nov. 2, 2009, case # 113938/2009):

"Although Alcor submits a sworn statement from Charles Platt, an independent contractor who once worked for Alcor, Platts affidavit is carefully parsed and never actually states that Larry Johnson signed any nondisclosure agreement...Instead, Platt swears only that he recalls several applicants (with no mention of Larry Johnson) visiting the facility in the last two weeks of December 2002, and that each of those people signed the agreement...Given Mr. Platts specific recollection of individual applicants executing the agreements in December 2002 prior to Mr. Johnsons visit and his careful refusal to swear that Larry Johnson actually signed one in January 2003...Yet once again, a careful reading of Platts affidavit which is apparently the only support for this outrageous statement does not state the Mr. Johnson stole anything. Instead, Platts affidavit simply recounts the fact that after Mr. Johnson left Alcor, Platt had an assistant look to see if there was an executed non-disclosure agreement, and no such agreement was found." http://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/webcivil/FCASMain

(Note: The existence of NDA's is basically irrelevant, since NDA's typically do not protect against "whistle-blowing." I believe the deceptive suggestions that Mr. Johnson and I stole forms from our employee folders were simply lies intended to discredit our criticisms of the activities of Alcor and Suspended Animation.)

The Truth About Suspended Animation's "Success"

Recently, Charles Platt, a former manager and director of Suspended Animation (SA) wrote a Cryonet post, in which he took credit for saving that company from extinction, defended their equipment, and bragged about their "progress" and recent case performance. I've been wanting to take the time to respond to that post, but it appears to have been deleted from the queue, before being posted. Regardless, this was not the first time Mr. Platt has made these assertions, so they are easy to recall. In examining Mr. Platt's assessment, of Suspended Animation (SA), it's important to recognize SA's goal of providing "standby, stabilization and transport," for what it is.

The "standby" portion of their goal requires sending staff members, or associated personnel, to a client's bedside, in the hopes of immediately placing that person in an ice bath, administering certain medications, and circulating the client's blood (to distribute the medications and facilitate cooling), just after legal death has been pronounced. Provided that conventional medical personnel have left IV lines in place, these tasks require only a minimal amount of training, and just about anyone of reasonable intelligence could perform them. The key problem with this step is arriving prior to legal death, since not many people know ahead of time, when they will die.

The "stabilization" portion of SA's services requires the cannulation of an artery and a vein, so that a perfusion circuit can be used to replace the blood with an organ preservation solution, which will then be circulated, (via the perfusion circuit), while the client is cooled to near zero degrees Celsius. These tasks are critical, and require skilled personnel, who can perform a good vascular cannulation in a timely fashion, and who can perform perfusion without causing injury to the patient. (The improper use of a perfusion circuit can result in devastating injury to the patient, and a patient cannot be properly perfused without a good cannulation.)

The "transport" portion of SA's services requires being able to pack the client in a manner that will keep his/her temperature as close to zero, as possible, and transport them to CI, or Alcor, (while abiding by applicable local and federal laws, of course). While this requires a lot of diligence and planning, it's not something that requires special clinical skills related to performing medical procedures.

Most reasonably intelligent persons could easily be trained to perform the "standby" and "transport" procedures, but the same is not true of the "stabilization" procedures, which require a proper education and extensive clinical training, under the supervision of qualified, competent instructors. Femoral cannulations and perfusion are safely performed, all around the world, on a daily basis, by competent personnel. A small percentage of these cases include cooling patients to deep hypothermia (below 18 degrees C) and removing them from all forms of support, for procedures that require the cessation of blood flow. These people are "technically" dead, while the procedure is taking place, and then they are warmed and revived. These procedures have been successfully performed, for decades, and what SA is attempting to do should mimic those procedures, for the most part. SA's cannulation procedures should be identical to those that have been performed, by vascular surgeons in conventional medicine, millions of times, yet SA continues to botch these procedures, to this day. In regard to perfusion, the only differences from conventional medical procedures will be the removal of the blood, (which only involves opening and closing a couple of clamps), and the degree of cooling, (variations a skilled perfusionist would be capable of performing, with less than five minutes of prior instruction). The bottom line to all this is: SA's goal is something conventional medical professionals have been capable of providing, for many decades, and SA should have made use of such personnel, and the equipment associated with proven hypothermic procedures. They have the necessary funding.

As of June 2007, SA's CEO, Saul Kent, had been involved in cryonics for more than 30 years ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Kent ) and SA's manager, Charles Platt, had been involved for approximately 17 years, ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Platt_(author) ). At various times, Mr. Platt was the co-founder and president of CryoCare, the COO of Alcor, and a director and manager of Suspended Animation. In June 2007, SA had been in existence for approximately five years, with an annual budget exceeding one million dollars. Though Mr. Platt may claim he was not the "manager" of SA for entirety of the three years leading up to June 2007, I believe he directed most of SA's activities during much of that time, (and I'm certain there are others who would agree with that assessment).

In June 2007, on behalf of SA and Mr. Kent, Mr. Platt sent three laymen, with no medical experience, whatsoever, to perform medical procedures, which are most likely to cause serious injury to patients, when performed by unqualified persons. Mr. Platt seems to think the two-three years leading up to, and culminating in, that event, constitute a success story. In truth, for two men with a combined 47 years of cryonics experience, (not to mention decades of advice from other "cryonics experts"), and more-than ample funding, with the goal being to provide surgical procedures that were virtually perfected in conventional medicine many decades ago, there could be no finer example of a more miserable failure.

While Mr. Platt may have been successful in getting LEF to continue pouring more than a million dollars a year into SA, I think his assessment of their "success" is more than a little misguided. The medical professionals I know, who perform procedures virtually identical to those being attempted by SA, would not have been impressed with the activities I witnessed at SA. Like me, they would have tried to change things, and would have been baffled by Mr. Platt's resistance to change. Like me, their suggestions for change would have most likely been met with extremely subversive and unprofessional behavior, which I believe was intended to undermine any efforts to re-direct the focus of SA away from Mr. Platt's own design and fabrication projects, in favor of proven existing equipment much less costly than Mr. Platt's projects.

Judging by what I've heard, and read, I don't think SA has accomplished much of significance, since June 2007, and as a follow-up to this post, I will soon be writing a review of SA's CI-95 case report, on my blog.

(This is not meant to be a personal attack on Mr. Platt, but a criticism of his assessment of SA as a "success." I consider Mr. Platt to be very intelligent and a gifted journalist/author, but I believe he is, at best, misguided, in regard to his work related to hypothermic medical science/cryonics. If I have criticized him more than I have criticized others, it is because of my firsthand experiences working with him, at SA, and because he persists in defending professional decisions I consider to be indefensible. There will be no progress, in cryonics, for so long as the people with the most influence continue to believe they are making progress, when they have yet to come up to speed with that which existed, decades ago.)

Patents in Cryonics

Recently, Steve Harris tried to impress me, (or maybe other readers of the "Cold Filter" cryonics forum), by stating he holds a "novel propofol formulation patent in several countries, with more to come." Apparently, Harris has not paid attention to my previous posts, regarding patents. If a person was to tell me they held one hundred patents, without being able to prove any of their patented items had been successfully marketed, all they would have convinced me of is that they, (or someone funding their activities), had spent a whole lot of money. Just about anybody willing to spend the money, could hold any number of "novel formulation" patents, but that wouldn't mean any of them were safe, effective, worthy of FDA-approval, or marketable. While the people funding cryonics activities may find the issuance of patents impressive, I don't. Most patents are worthless. When Harris comes back with proof his patented propofol formulation has received FDA-approval and is being marketed by a major pharmaceutical company, then I'll be impressed. Other than the inventors, (whose activities have been funded by LEF and/or Alcor), and maybe some patent attorneys, has anyone ever made a penny off of any of the patents related to the activities of cryonics organizations?

Hopefully, Harris et. al.'s laboratory work isn't as sloppy as one of their patent recent applications: http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jspWO=2009042220&IA=US2008011224&DISPLAY=DESC
In this particular application, there were numerous very careless errors, which I spotted the first time I read it. For example, they were "induc(ing)hyperthermia in order to decrease mammalian temperature..." ("Inducing hyperthermia" means warming, not cooling.) I understand typos, but for a Harris' group to submit a patent application in which they consistently confused the terms for heating and cooling, is beyond sloppy. Glaringly obvious, careless mistakes, such as those, make it appear as though no one bothered to review the document, before it was submitted and published on the Internet. I wrote more about it, here:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/291677/message/1257168041/Sloppy+Patent+Work+-+Critical+Care+Research

Alcor's Chief Medical Advisor Posts Inaccurate Information, Yet Again

Steve Harris MD, (Alcor's Chief Medical Advisor), posting on the "Anti-Cult" site:
"Ms. Maxim is hardly shocked, as years ago she worked for a cryonics company where it was her job to inventory medical kits which stocked propofol for use in cryonics patients."
http://forum.rickross.com/read.php?12,64749,page=31

Ms. Maxim is shocked to see Steve Harris MD persist in publicly describing her activities, at Suspended Animation, in spite of the fact he is well aware that many of his previous comments on her activities were blatant lies.

In the past, Steve Harris MD has gone so far as to falsely accuse me of lying about my credentials and of stealing documents from my employee folder, (including a non-disclosure agreement that never existed), at Suspended Animation. As Harris knows, the person who provided him with this false information hired an attorney and issued a public retraction and apology, after I threatened to sue all of them for libel. Harris works at Critical Care Research (CCR) in California, Suspended Animation (SA) is in Florida. Harris never set foot in the SA facility, while I was there. It was not my "job to inventory medical kits which stocked propofol." That was Kelly Kingston's job, something Harris should be well aware of, since, when he publicly blamed me for needed medical equipment that was not in the kits for a case, (five months after my resignation, no less), I made it very clear that, while I was working at SA, no one had been allowed to open the kits, (much less add anything, or remove anything), other than under the supervision of Kelly Kingston, who was responsible for the inventory of the kits. (Harris might refer to Charles Platt's apology, Paragraph V.)

Regardless, I was indeed aware that propofol was a medication in SA's standby protocol. HOWEVER, it was my understanding this was ONE dose, to be administered immediately after death had been pronounced. I was never made aware of a policy Harris recently described, (on the Cold Filter cryonics forum), which calls for administering additional propofol to a person who shows signs of life, during a cryonics procedure. Anyone who shows signs of awareness is not dead, and it is illegal to perform cryonics procedures on people who are alive. I am truly shocked that Harris would make such a statement, and not seem to realize the implications.
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Responses to my Questions about Propofol

When I worked in heart surgery, every person in the room had a job to do. While I could tell you the basics of most of the drugs the anesthesia personnel were administering, I didn't always know the specifics about the dosing, just as they did not know the details about the job I was doing. In the short time I worked at SA, I never got around to fully exploring, much less questioning, the medications protocol. At the time, I had no reason to question the designers of the protocols, and I was spending more time than I should have had to spend, fighting for changes that were within my realm of expertise, and some that seemed like they should have been simple common sense.

After the Johnson book came out, people started to ask me about the use of certain drugs in cryonics, and after the Michael Jackson incident, the focus centered on propofol. People wanted to know why laymen had access to a drug most medical professionals working in hospitals aren't allowed access to. When I raised that issue on the Cold Filter cryonics forum, Mathew Sullivan responded that Suspended Animation (SA) was not carrying enough propofol to warrant anyone accusing them of hastening the deaths of patients. Not recalling what SA's dose was, and not having one of SA's handy-dandy laminated protocols available, (three years after my resignation from that company), I remembered the meds were listed in the CI-81 case report. When I read "20mg," and looked up the dosing for propofol, I thought, "Geeez...that's nothing more than a hand-waving gesture." (Note: Somewhere along the line, I inadvertently starting typing "25mg," rather than "20mg." Platt can go on about this all he wants, but it's really meaningless. What is important is that I was questioning an extremely small dose.)

When Harris explained the dose was 200mg, and Platt said the amount in the SA report was a typo, I wrote that even 200mg seemed like a meaningless dose. Platt responded to that, with some wisecrack about my expertise, (as if "expertise" has ever been important to someone who totally disregards an expert's advice on existing equipment and sends laymen to perform medical procedures). It doesn't take expertise to form the opinion that 200mg is not enough propofol to keep someone unconscious very long, with readily-available information, regarding propofol dosing. Propofol is super-fast acting, but the effects are very short-lived, and it moves rapidly from the central nervous system, into the peripheral tissues. I think anyone reading the following information would agree that 200mg of propofol doesn't seem like enough to do what Mathew, FD and Harris claimed it was doing, ("keeping people dead," while CPR was being administered).

"anesthesia induction (healthy adults less than 55 yo)
Dose: 2-2.5 mg/kg IV given as 40 mg q10sec until induction onset...
...anesthesia maintenance (healthy adults less than 55 yo)
Dose: 0.1-0.2 mg/kg/min IV; Alt: 25-50 mg IV prn"
https://online.epocrates.com/u/1011979/Diprivan/Adult+Dosing

Using the low end of this suggested dosing, for a 70kg (154lb) man, the dosing would be 140mg for induction, followed by 7mg per min (420mg per hour)."
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Brian Wowk's Testimony - Truth, or Rhetoric?

Recently, I read Brain Wowk's testimony, on behalf of Alcor, for the Arizona court. I can't seem to find that document, at the moment, but I'm certain I can regurgitate one statement Dr. Wowk made, that stuck in my mind. Though it won't be verbatim, it will be close enough that no one will be able to claim I twisted it. Essentially, he described the Johnson/Baldyga book as "400 pages of lies designed to disparage Alcor."

Does Dr. Wowk, of 21st Century Medicine (21CM) really believe what he told the judge, or was it rhetoric? It certainly appears a large percentage of the book is based on audiotapes Johnson made, while working at Alcor. I think it's safe to assume, (judging by the battle Johnson, Baldyga and their publisher have been putting up), that they can support the majority of the contents of the book, with those audiotapes. If Dr. Wowk thinks the book is filled with "lies," he should probably take that up with his colleagues and/or former colleagues, (people such as Hixon, Hovey, and Platt), since that is where Johnson seems to have obtained most of his information.

Dr. Wowk did get one thing right...
The book was intended to disparage and discredit Alcor, probably with good reason.

In my opinion, the people who defend activities most people will find to be indefensible, with statements that don't seem to be quite accurate, are further damaging Alcor's credibility , as well as risking their own professional reputations. If the judge listens to the tapes, (and rumor, on Cryonet, indicates more are to be released, soon), and he hears Alcor personnel verifying the contents of Johnson's book, what will he think of Dr. Wowk's testimony? I suppose it is possible Alcor is hoping to win on the technicality that Johnson signed some sort of mediated settlement, (though he never signed the formal agreement, nor accepted the payment that was included), before they actually have to wage a battle based on the contents of the book.

NY Court Documents

Recently, Mathew Sullivan of Suspended Animation, in Boynton Beach, Florida, and the anonymous "FD," who frequently participates on the "Cold Filter" cryonics forum, criticized me for not posting recent information regarding the Alcor vs. Johnson/Baldyga/Vanguard Press lawsuits. The truth is, I had not even read the documents, since they had yet to be posted on the Internet court site I monitor. During the course of three days, (February 2-4), four documents containing a total of 103 pages were posted. On February 6, before I was even aware of the documents, FD and Mathew took to pretending I was not commenting on them, because I didn't like the contents. People in cryonics are good at pretending.

One of the documents they are gloating over contains the testimony of Brian Wowk, which is incomplete, in that Johnson's attorneys have yet to cross-examine him. It appears they did not cross-examine him, because they were unaware he was going to testify that day, and they didn't even have an opportunity to depose him, beforehand. If they do get around to cross-examining him, in the future, as the judge suggested, there are many statements they should pay attention to. I find the documents, (like many legal documents), to be ridiculously long and boring, so I am not going to spend all day pouring over them, but there were a couple of things that caught my eye, as I was scrolling through them. Here is just one example:

Alcor's attorney: "Is it a true statement that Ted Williams' head was used for batting practice at the Alcor facility?

Dr. Wulk (sic): "No, that's absolutely false. I personally know the individual who was alleged to have done that, Hugh Hixson (sic). He's a scientist like myself who takes the field of cryonics very seriously. He is incapable of such an act, as am I."

Now, we all know the "batting practice" remark was a sensationalistic metaphor used to describe Hixon attempting to dislodge a tuna can that had been frozen to Mr. Williams' head. We all know Johnson's claim is that Hixon was attempting to dislodge the tuna can with a wrench, and accidentally struck Mr. Williams' head. We all know Johnson didn't really mean to give anyone the impression that the Alcor personnel was having a real "batting practice" with Mr. Williams' head. In fact, I believe it was the media, not Larry Johnson, who came up with the "batting practice" remark. I know it, and I can't help but believe Alcor and Dr. Wowk know it, since anyone of reasonable intelligence who has read the book and seen the interviews could figure it out. To make his testimony even more laughable, Dr. Wowk complained about Johnson presenting things "out of context," in a magazine article. Isn't that exactly what Alcor's attorneys and Dr. Wowk were doing, in a court of law, when they discussed the media's "batting practice" comments?

Dr. Wowk put forth that Johnson's book is "...400 pages of privacy violation, disparagement and defamation that presents false and misleading information in a manner constructed to be as harmful to Alcor as possible."

I'll have to disagree with that. A lot of those 400 pages contain the transcripts of tapes of Alcor's own staff members, (including the COO, the vice president, and an Alcor senior board member), describing Alcor allegedly engaging in unethical and illegal activities. Was that information false? I doubt it, but if it is, Dr. Wowk should take it up with his esteemed colleagues, such as Hixon, Platt and Hovey.

Are the case notes of the cryopreservation of Ted Williams a "privacy violation"? Probably, but let's put that in context. One of Alcor's own personnel, at the time, complained about many people, who had no reason for even being there, milling about, snapping their photos with Mr. Williams' body, (or maybe just the head). Maybe Dr. Wowk could ask former Alcor COO, Charles Platt, about his email to Larry Johnson, in which he (Platt) claims to have photos of the Ted Williams case stored in a safe deposit box.

If I were Johnson's attorney, I would definitely cross-examine Wowk. I would read the excerpt of the book, in which Johnson clearly indicates Hixon was attempting to dislodge the tuna can, and then I would ask Dr. Wowk if it was Mr. Johnson, or the media, who used the term "batting practice." I would also ask Dr. Wowk why his fellow scientist, Hugh Hixon, would make a statement that a drug was used "To kill (Alcor patients)," or make jokes about one of his co-workers expediting the death of a patient, so the Alcor team could "beat the traffic." Then I would play every tape Johnson has of Hixon, and ask Dr. Wowk if he could possibly explain why his upstanding colleague would make such remarks. I mean, if Hixon takes the "field of cryonics (so) very seriously," as Dr. Wowk claims, then the court should probably assume the statements he made about drugs being used to kill people during cryonics cases should be taken very seriously, should it not? I would make it clear, to the judge, that I thought Alcor's attorneys and witnesses were misrepresenting some of the contents of Johnson's book.

If I were to read the entire document, I could probably go on, all day, about how I think Alcor is being deceptive, (because that IS what I think). And, if I had a stake in Johnson's case, (as Mathew and FD seem to think I do), I would rush to my computer each morning to tear apart those documents line-by-line, and post them on my blog, knowing at least one of Johnson's attorneys reads my posts. Johnson's NY attorneys seem really sharp, but I'm not so sure about his Arizona attorneys, and it seems the NY judge may rule, based on what the Arizona courts rule. Regardless, that's Johnson's problem, not mine. TWrelated is right, not enough people really care about the outcome of the Johnson case, including me, since I expect a decision, in either direction, will be rather anti-climactic. While Johnson's sensationalistic book got the world's attention, for 15 minutes, I believe it was only a catalyst for a few other reactions that will forever change the face of cryonics, (hopefully, in a positive way).

Now, would FD and Mathew really like for me to keep reviewing the blasted legal documents, or would they be okay with them if I went back to ignoring most of them, as I have been doing, for many weeks, now? I really have better things to do.

Alcor vs. Johnson Update

There's some sort of hearing, today, in the Alcor vs. Johnson case, in New York. I am not an attorney, but it appears Alcor is attempting to amend their case to add defamation claims, and to "domesticate the Arizona Judgment pursuant to Order of this Court dated December 11, 2009." I fall asleep reading legal documents, but I believe the Arizona judgment relates to some sort of prior negotiation of an agreement, between Johnson and Alcor.

It seems Johnson and Alcor negotiated an agreement that they would pay him to keep his mouth shut, a long time ago, but he never signed the typed document, or cashed the check. In Alcor's favor, it appears Johnson did sign a handwritten document, though I'm not sure how binding that is. I think the Arizona judge recently ruled that the agreement stands, but Johnson is appealing that decision. (I haven't even tried to find the Arizona court documents, lately, but some were included with the NY documents, and I breezed through them, a while back.)

I am amused by some of the statements, in Alcor's filings, such as "Alcor is a pioneer in medical research..." I wonder how many medical research scientists would agree with that. My guess is, not many other than those being paid by LEF. Personally, I think they are a joke, and their so-called surgeries have been a mockery of modern hypothermic medicine.

Alcor's attorneys seem to be attempting to persuade the judge that most of what goes on at Alcor is "highly confidential, trade secrets and proprietary...," but I disagree with that. They appear to have published most of their insanity, over the years. They go on, at length, about Johnson signing the Employee Handbook, which they claim was some sort of confidentiality agreement, but, as I recall, Johnson's attorneys maintain that the handbook clearly states it does not constitute any sort of binding legal agreement.

The portion of Alcor's argument that really discredits them, in my eyes, is the part where they put forth that Johnson signed an NDA, that it was kept in his office, and that he stole it when he left, based upon an affidavit from Charles Platt. The exact same lies were told about me, (by the same person), when I left SA. I never signed an NDA, and my employee file, (which I never had access to), was certainly not kept in my office. The same thing is probably true, regarding the illusory (non-existent) Johnson NDA.

Alcor lists 32 specific statements from the book which they say are false, but I think some of those statements can be traced back to Johnson's taped conversations with Alcor's personnel, (Platt, Hixon, Hovey, etc.) If Alcor now maintains statements made by their personnel were false, how was Johnson to know that? Who is actually responsible for the alleged "lies"? I think Alcor makes a few good points, but it might behoove them to leave out the fiction, and quit holding Johnson responsible for stories told by their own personnel.

Alcor has now asked for a jury trial, (something Johnson did, a while back). That should be extremely interesting, should it ever happen. Personally, I think Alcor would have a very difficult time proving their "trade secret" arguments, or holding Mr. Johnson responsible for statements their own employees made, in taped conversations. They may "win," based on the handwritten agreement, but what will it cost them?

So far, all Alcor has accomplished has been to get the judge to prevent Johnson from discussing anything that was not in the book. We'll see what happens, today.

Melody Maxim

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.

Suspended Animation's Perfusionists

When I was an employee of Suspended Animation, I fully intended to be the perfusionist on call, 48 weeks of the year. I'm not sure how that would have worked out, because at some point, as I recall, Platt, whom Kent insisted on having as a "Team Leader," said he wouldn't do cases with me. (Fancy that...Kent found a science fiction writer preferable to a qualified perfusionist, as a cryonics care provider.) Prior to that time, when I suggested we contract with a Florida-based perfusion group, to cover for my four vacation weeks, I was scoffed at, and told "real medical professionals won't work with us." I was also told it was "too expensive," so imagine my surprise, when SA contracted with the very same group for 52 weeks a year, and leased equipment from them. Recently, in a Cold Filter post, Steve Harris remarked on how expensive this is. Call me crazy, but if it means getting rid of a RUP, or two, to have qualified perfusionists at cryonics cases, that is what should be done.

I've been acquainted with a person who helps run that perfusion group, for quite a few years. When I found out they contracted with SA, I did contact him. I told him I was happy cryonics patients would have qualified perfusionists, but I also told him I thought he should be aware of what he might be getting into. Specifically, I said his perfusionists should be prepared to go to cases without anyone capable of performing a femoral cannulation, which is exactly what did happen. I also said they should either investigate the legalities of carrying certain drugs across state lines, or be cautious of carrying any of SA's luggage. I don't believe SA has done their homework, in regard to who may carry and/or administer certain medications they are using. I am not the only one to express this concern, Mr. Ettinger has also mentioned it, and I wouldn't want any of my fellow perfusionists to end up in jail, or ruin their careers, because SA might be pretending to be more "legitimate" than they really are.

When the Johnson book hit the shelves, I happened to notice that Suspended Animation was naming the perfusion group, on the SA website, and I became concerned. I thought it odd that SA refuses to name their own staff members, but was naming the perfusion group. (Is SA ashamed of their staff members, or are the staff members ashamed of cryonics? I suspect both.) I called my acquaintance, again, and asked him if he was aware of the book, or that his company was named on the SA website. He said he was not aware, of either, and seemed appropriately concerned about both. Personally, I think SA should have informed the perfusionists of the book and asked their permission to name the company on the website. If "FD," over on Cold Filter, wants to call my concern for my fellow perfusionists a "dirty trick," so be it, but in my opinion, they deserve the right to protect their identities, as much as, OR MORE THAN, the SA staff members, especially in light of the Johnson book, which implicates several people, with close ties to SA, in unethical behaviors.

The person I spoke to asked me how I got involved in cryonics politics. I told him I got involved because I thought cryonics patients deserved better care than what they were getting, and that I felt a lot of people were "scamming" the people funding the cryonics industry, by sending a bunch of laymen to botch femoral cannulations and perfusion attempts. His response? "Well, they're already dead, aren't they?" and "Everybody who pays for it knows there's little likelihood this will ever work, don't they?"

To be honest, the only objection I have to the first remark is that it indicates that person would not ever object to substandard care being given to cryonics patients, no matter how atrocious. In other words, if they arrived at procedures, for the next two decades, and there was never a good cannulation, or someone asked them to do something insane, (like deliver 17 liters of fluid to a patient, when there was no venous return), they wouldn't say anything.

As for the second remark, my response was, "Take a hike on the Suspended Animation website, and tell me you don't think they are misrepresenting the quality of their services to the people who are buying them." He didn't have anything to say about that, and I'm pretty sure he had never visited the SA website.

He told me he "...never had any problem with them, other than like you said, they can't do a femoral cannulation..." What does this mean? I think it means his group gets paid promptly, for providing perfusionists for training sessions and cases, and for leasing equipment, to SA. I was under the distinct impression he didn't really care about anything other than that. As he said, "They're (the patients) are already dead, aren't they?"

If I were managing a cryonics care facility, I wouldn't have any problem with hiring qualified perfusionists, even if they thought cryonics was the biggest joke, in the universe, as long as I felt they would properly perform their duties. However, to provide qualified perfusionists, without anyone to perform the cannulations they need, in order to properly perform perfusion, is just a waste of money, and sending only people who won't object to what I would call "malpractice," because the patients "are already dead," is not going to lead to progress. Someone involved has to give a damn about something other than the money.

Alcor vs. Johnson and Vanguard Press

Go to http://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/webcivil/FCASMain

Click on "Index Search"

Enter "113938/2009" in the "Index Number" space and click on "Find Case(s).

Click on the Index Number, and then click on "Show eFiled Documents"

You will be able to read all of the court documents, in the Alcor vs. Vanguard Press and Larry Johnson. Personally, I think Mr. Yalowitz (Vanguard) and Ms. Wang (Johnson) are extremely sharp and have made excellent arguments. I think Mr. Bauer (Alcor) is probably doing the best he can, with what he has to work with.

Alcor seems to be relying on several arguments that hold little validity, in my opinion. They want to make the "trade secrets" argument, but I think it's pretty clear that the only "trade secret" they have may be their vitrification solution recipe, and Johnson hasn't revealed that to anyone, as far as I know. I think it will be difficult for them to argue "trade secrets," when they have been singing the "transparency" song for so long, and have published almost every detail of their operations and procedures, on the Internet.

There's the related issue of them claiming Johnson has provided the public with information that may give their competition an unfair advantage. That's just plain silly, as there really is no competition, other than, maybe, CI, and I don't think Johnson gave CI any information they didn't already have. In fact, Ben Best was recently at Alcor, where they supposedly asked him to sign an NDA, and showed him around. In other words, they may have allowed their only competition to come in the Alcor facility and view whatever it is they are claiming as "trade secrets." In addition, many people with connections to Alcor have claimed that Johnson's publicity has HELPED Alcor gain an increase in membership, in the past.

Then, Alcor resorts to the NDA, and other related issues. Their attorneys state that Platt "unequivocally" claims Johnson signed an NDA, but he did no such thing, and Johnson's attorney picked right up on that. As she writes, Platt carefully parsed his words in a manner that would avoid possibly committing perjury. He states he called someone at Alcor, and asked them to look in Johnson's employee file, for an NDA. I can only imagine this same thing happened, when he accused me of stealing a non-existent NDA, at SA. Johnson's attorney, apparently, has an imagination similar to mine, and has done her homework. She includes the agreement/apology, Platt posted on CF and Cryonet, in response to my threats to take legal action, in regard to the lies and/or malicious "speculations" that were being made, in attempts to discredit me, (See her "Exhibit 9).

Finally, Alcor wants to cry about the restraining orders against Johnson, but it appears they never properly served him. Johnson's attorney points out that a process server relayed to Alcor that the address where he was to be served was a "bad address," but Alcor proceeded to send Certified Mail there, and when it wasn't returned, put forth that Johnson had been properly served.

It should be interesting to find out what the judge thinks of these motions, in tomorrow's hearing. So far, I have the score as "Johnson 2, Alcor 0." Regardless of the outcome, the book is out and Johnson has already made the interview rounds. All Alcor is doing, in my opinion, is wasting a lot of money, making themselves look deceptive and foolish, and promoting Johnson's book.

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.