A Response to Mike Darwin's "Manifesto"

I do not believe anyone who truly knows me would think I fit the definition of a "sociopath," a "cretin," a “lunatic,” a "Nazi," or any of the other derogatory names, Mike Darwin has been throwing around. The information presented as factual, (as opposed to items clearly designated as opinion, or hearsay), on my blog, is accurate, to the best of my knowledge. The fact that I may agree, on a few points, with the more vitriolic critics of cryonics activities, does not indicate I agree with them on everything, or with the way they express themselves.

Contrary to Mike Darwin’s complaints, I have not engaged in publishing lies, and I have never run background checks on, or published information about the private lives of, the people I have criticized. However, Mike Darwin's associates, such as Charles Platt, Steve Harris MD, and Jordan Sparks did do those things, to me, in lieu of producing valid responses to the legitimate concerns I expressed about the activities of LEF-funded Suspended Animation. Mike Darwin, himself, has told many lies, including claiming he was, at one time, a “board-eligible perfusionist.” To make such a claim implies he was aware of the requirements, and I’m sure he knows he has never even come close to meeting the qualifications required to sit for the ABCP exams. When I challenged him on his false claim, he disappeared from the forum where that discussion was taking place.

Now, Mr. Darwin wants to argue that cryonics would be better-modeled after a secret fraternal organization. Fancy that. It makes sense for him to make such a suggestion, because only when hidden from the public view, can Mr. Darwin perpetuate his lies, pretend to be a “Chief Surgeon,” or a perfusionist, and try to pass himself off as some sort of respected, accomplished expert in the medical sciences. Unfortunately for Mr. Darwin, the people who have caused his reputation the most harm, are his peers, and his former co-workers at Alcor. In all actuality, it is most likely Mr. Darwin’s own actions, which have damaged his reputation to the point, where he is no longer welcomed as an employee, of cryonics organizations, (in spite of the fact that he seems to take credit for, not only their alleged successes, but in one recent article, even their failures!).

I have no objection to people being cryogenically-preserved. In fact, I am fascinated with the concept, and I think everyone should receive what he/she wishes, at the time of legal death. With that said, I believe organizations, such as Alcor and Suspended Animation, have grossly misrepresented themselves in the public eye, and people are not getting what they may think they are paying for, when they subscribe to the services of those organizations. Mike Darwin has played a large role in this deception, by assigning labels, such as "Surgeon," and even "Chief Surgeon," to himself and others, in Alcor's published case reports, (something I'm told is illegal, in the State of Arizona). These deceptive practices must stop. As I've written, many times, if these organizations want to give full disclosure, I will have little objection to their activities. (By “full disclosure,” I do not mean making statements, hidden in the small print of lengthy documents no one ever reads, while presenting themselves, to the public, as something much more than what they really are.)

In essence, I feel people are being "conned" out of up to $200,000, (plus decades of membership dues, insurance premiums, and other miscellaneous charges), for services, which have been grossly misrepresented and are far inferior to what they could be. On top of that, people are being encouraged to leave trust funds, or even their estates, to organizations that have produced little valid scientific research, and whose leaders have made them the subjects of ridicule and harsh criticism, through their many questionable activities, and nearly-total lack of progress. Cryonics organizations sell their services with a heavy reliance on the capabilities, and altruism, of people who have yet to be born, (the "scientists of the future). These organizations expect their clients to believe these future scientists and clinicians will not only cure what cryo-suspended persons have died from, but repair the extreme degree of damage the cryonics organizations, themselves, are inflicting, with their DIY equipment and unskilled personnel.

Some of the people, determined to make sure cryonics stays on the same path, are extremely intelligent, but intelligence does not guarantee competence, ethical behavior, or even good intentions. Many of their writings are seriously flawed, and others appear to be nothing more than the regurgitation of information readily found in textbooks. Their rationale for their activities is inconsistent, at best. In one venue, we have LEF-funded Steve Harris maintaining the liquid ventilation project has taken so long, (more than a decade), because they were trying to minimize lung damage; in another venue, we have LEF-funded Brian Wowk responding to some of my criticisms, with the excuse that the vitrification solutions are so toxic, it doesn’t matter how much damage laymen care providers inflict. These arguments contradict one another, and it’s only one, of many examples, of their inconsistencies. These two men, and others, want the amateur engineering projects to continue, indefinitely, for what I believe are obvious reasons.

For approximately 40 years, cryonics has resembled a garage project, rather than a medical-science endeavor. There have been decades devoted to ridiculous design and fabrication projects, when the majority of the equipment could have been purchased, for but a fraction of what Alcor and/or the LEF-funded organizations paid to amateur engineers, to design and build grossly inferior equipment. For example, I estimate that well into seven figures has been spent, (mostly man-hours), over the decades, on the amateur design of perfusion circuits to be used for the vitrification process, when a state-of-the-art heart-lung machine would easily fulfill the requirements, and for a price barely into six figures. Instead of using their millions to purchase the appropriate equipment, and hiring qualified personnel to perform their procedures, these companies spend millions, year-after-year, on DIY equipment, and on trying to train laymen to perform the tasks of skilled medical professionals. For them to claim they do not have the financing to do better, while offering up the Timeship project, is absurd. I no longer see any hope of reform, and look at the entire industry as being rife with corruption, quacks, cranks and con artists.

As far as I know, I am the only person who writes on cryonics forums, who has actually participated in procedures in which people were cooled to clinical death, and then revived. How many cryonicists really believe I am just a mean-spirited, spiteful woman, on some sort of warped personal vendetta? Isn’t it much more likely that I am a professional, with relevant experience, who is appalled at what I see as a mockery of medical procedures that have played an important role in my life? I have a cumulative decade of surgical experience, in conventional medicine, and there is not one co-worker, past or present, (outside of cryonics), who would describe me as anything less than professional, ethical and easy to get along with.

I am truly fascinated with the notion of exploring the extension of existing hypothermic medical procedures. If there are people I would like to see removed from the cryonics arena, it is because I believe those people stand in the way of ethical behavior and professionalism, (and, therefore, any hope of progress), in the interest of padding their own egos and/or wallets, indefinitely. Many of these people have greatly benefitted, from the generosity of the benefactors of cryonics organizations, while leaving their organizations in the “dark ages” of hypothermic medicine. Logically, cryonics procedures should be an extension of hypothermic procedures being performed in conventional medicine, yet cryonics procedures, as provided by the existing organizations, pale in comparison to the conventional procedures, as they were decades ago! The people responsible for this situation have a million excuses, such as “We can’t afford to hire qualified personnel,” but one needs only to look at their salaries, most of which exceed that of the majority of medical professionals, to know this is not true.

How many cryonicists can look at the recent decisions and activities, of Alcor, the LEF-funded organizations, Cryonics Institute, and the American Cryonics Society, and pretend the leaderships of those organizations are capable of rendering cryonics more acceptable to the general population? How many cryonicists think the endless amateur equipment design and fabrication projects really qualify as “research and development," of the nature needed to advance the science of cryonics? How many cryonicists want another 40 years of little-to-no progress, and abundant scandal? Do cryonicists think they will receive anything other than that, for so long as the key players remain the same? Though Max More appears to be an incredibly intelligent man, he does not have a background in the medical sciences. Who will be his mentors, in regard to the medical procedures Alcor is trying to perform? The same people who have botched so many procedures, made so many mistakes, and brought little but embarrassment to the cryonics community, with their non-sensical amateur efforts, and their apparent disregard for the reputations of their organizations? How many cryonicists think the cryonics community can avoid stringent regulation, if these activities continue?

(A digression: As many people know, I question the appointment, of Mr. More, at Alcor, given his propensity for shocking people with his unconventional ideas, public antics, and published documents that would probably send his resume into the wastebasket, in most of corporate America. Let's face it, most companies interested in gaining more respect from the general public, would not consider Mr. More for a leadership position, but no one can deny his obvious extreme degree of intelligence. Will he stray off the beaten path that has taken Alcor nowhere, or will he allow himself to be subjected to the advice of those who have come before him, and who have accomplished so very little of significance? Will he define himself as a true independent thinker and take cryonics in a new direction, or will he become just another cog in a well-oiled propaganda machine?)

Mike Darwin’s “call for action” was a plea for people to stop supplying the critics of cryonics organizations, with information. None of the cryonicists, who communicate with me, (and a number of them are in favor of regulation), have any respect for Mike Darwin; they see him as a pariah, someone who has caused great harm to the cryonics community. If people of the cryonics community want to join Mr. Darwin in his “secret society,” and freeze one another, in each other’s garages, have at it, (sarcasm, not an endorsement of illegal activities). However, if cryonics organizations want to pretend they are something they are not, by publishing reports that refer to laymen, as “surgeons,” or other medical professionals, while charging unsuspecting clients up to $200,000, for their poor-performed procedures, do not expect my peers and I to sit, idly by, saying nothing. The medical community will not be able to ignore reports filled with medical terminology, (often used improperly, because the authors do not understand the procedures they are discussing), which appear to be intended to mislead the public, in regard to the capabilities of these organizations.

I am not “attempting to destroy cryonics,” and I have no “thirst for death and blood in the arena,” (Mr. Darwin’s remarks that have had me laughing, for days, and will humor my friends, co-workers and relatives, no small amount). Mike Darwin has every reason to want cryonics to go underground. I, on the other hand, want the organizations to operate in a way that is beyond public reproach. Who is really more likely to “destroy cryonics,” someone like Mike Darwin, or someone like me?

Mr. Darwin may impress a small number of people, mostly comprised of laymen, by churning out technical mumbo-jumbo, but he will never be admired, in the world of conventional hypothermic medicine. Sometimes, people ask me to respond to his ramblings, but I don’t have time to carry on technical debates, with someone whose arguments are filled with lies and mistakes, (not to mention cultish rhetoric), in front of an audience comprised mostly of laymen. I am going to answer Mike Darwin's “call to action," but not in the arena of cryonics Internet forums, and not with an army of laymen.

To cryonicists, who would like to see something more than promises of the future, from people who cannot deliver today’s technology, I wish you all well. I hope you will achieve your dream, in spite of Mr. Darwin, and others like him. Who knows? Maybe it will be an “annus mirabilis,” for the cryonics community.

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).

EUCRIO Deleted from Cryonics Institute's Site

EDIT 12/11/10:

As usual, some of the cryos respond to legitimate criticism, with lies and personal attacks. In response to my playful comments, (see below), about the David Styles situation, Mathew Sullivan of Suspended Animation, (an LEF-funded organization, located in Boynton Beach, Florida), called me a "white trash bigot," (the CF moderator edited out those remarks). Mathew, and other cryos, then proceeded on a silly campaign intended to convince the public this was a case of religious discrimination. (I'm the most tolerant person I know...if one of my sons was to show up with a pink polka-dotted male Martian, who worshipped the gods of Alpha Centauri, I wouldn't bat an eye, before welcoming him into my family.)

I think anyone of reasonable intelligence would realize this has nothing to do with religion, or bigotry. It has to do with the manipulative, fraudulent activities of David Styles, (and others, who have assisted him in his fraudulent activities), and the risk to cryonics from the obvious (to most of us) public relations fallout that comes from associating with someone like Styles.

I feel sorry, for Styles, on some level. He's obviously a very bright young man, who will probably never be able to live up to his full potential, due to some very poor choices. When it comes to any sort of management position, most legitimate businesses will avoid him, like the plague, for many years to come. I think the only way he could outlive his sullied reputation, would be to step out of the limelight for a few years, get a proper education, and chalk his past activities up to youth.

His biggest mistake has more to do with his lies, than with his religious choices; I think he's already proven he is not someone who can be trusted to lead any organization, many times over. More than a few people have demanded he name the medical professionals he claimed to have scattered throughout Europe, yet he has yet to produce even one such person. Then, there were the lies and secrecy, related to his attempts to get a position on the Board of Directors, of Cryonics Institute. (An attempt, in which CI's president, Ben Best, appeared to be subversively assisting Styles, and attempting to manipulate others, at CI.)

While I am 1,000 percent in favor of religious freedom, I don't see how anyone can take the Church of Satan, or the Temple of Vampires, seriously. Too many of their former members have come out with stories that make those organizations seem more like cults and pyramid schemes, than any religion. Logically, any organization being sincere about a religion based on pagan principles, would have picked another name. In my mind, anyone choosing to include the Christian nemesis, "Satan," in their name, could only be pulling a publicity stunt. Isn't it obvious that only someone in dire need of attention, would make that choice? I'm not saying everyone involved in the COS and TOV are needy publicity hounds; some of them appear to be a rather fun bunch, engaging in the silly "frat-boy" activities of youth, while not harming anyone. (Look at photos of Styles hanging out with his COS and TOV buddies, and you'll see what appears to be a happy young man; look at photos of him pretending to be a leader of a medical science endeavor, and you'll see a very uncomfortable person playing out of his league.)

I'm going to end this edit with a quote from the Church of Satan founder, Anton LaVey:
"You cannot love everyone; it is ridiculous to think you can. If you love everyone and everything you lose your natural powers of selection and wind up being a pretty poor judge of character and quality. If anything is used too freely it loses its true meaning. Therefore, the Satanist believes you should love strongly and completely those who deserve your love, but never turn the other cheek to your enemy!"

http://www.religioustolerance.org/satanis1.htm

I'm with LaVey on that one, and anyone who tries to defraud the public with "a ticket to the future," and medical professionals that don't exist, or anyone who makes a mockery of REAL hypothermic medical science, is no friend of mine.

(This probably should have been a stand-alone blog entry, rather than an edit, but the original blog entry is below.)

*************************************************

http://www.network54.com/Forum/291677/message/1291925953/Eucrio+deleted+from+CI+site

Vampire and satanists lose to a handful of conscientious cryonicists, (with a lot of help from one wild and crazy chef!) Maybe CI should now focus on getting rid of the resident evil...you know, the one who was letting the vampires in the back door.

On that comment mind-boggling bizarre comment, I think I should probably call it an evening.

This weekend, I will most likely make additional comments, on that insanity, and I will definitely make my last comments for Dr. Wowk, on this blog, (referring to our recent discussion on lesswrong.com). Dr. Wowk's ridiculous arguments have me feeling like I am "beating my head against a wall."

Dr. Wowk thinks it's acceptable, for Catherine Baldwin, to refer to herself as a "surgeon," because she didn't refer to herself as a "credentialed surgeon." I hate to tell Dr. Wowk this, but it is illegal in some states, to refer to one's self as a "surgeon," period. One does not have to add "credentialed," to make it illegal.

No matter what he writes, I'm quite sure Dr. Wowk is intelligent enough to understand why regulators, and authorities, might frown on Suspended Animation's case report, which was nothing more than an attempt to defraud SA's potential clients, by misrepresenting their personnel and capabilities. The same goes for Alcor, and their case reports, in which charlatans, such as Mike Darwin, have been referred to as "surgeon," and even "chief surgeon," (something that happens to be illegal, in Alcor's home state of Arizona, by the way).

Impersonating a Physician in Arizona

32-1455. Violation; classification

A. The following acts are class 5 felonies:

1. The practice of medicine by a person not licensed or exempt from licensure pursuant to this chapter.

2. Securing a license to practice medicine pursuant to this chapter by fraud or deceit.

3. Impersonating a member of the board in issuing a license to practice medicine to another.

B. The following acts if committed by a person not licensed under this chapter or exempt from licensure pursuant to section 32-1421 are class 2 misdemeanors:

1. The use of the designation "M.D." in a way that would lead the public to believe that a person was licensed to practice medicine in this state.

2. The use of the designation "doctor of medicine", "physician", "surgeon", "physician and surgeon" or any combination thereof unless such designation additionally contains the description of another branch of the healing arts.

3. The use of the designation "doctor" by a member of another branch of healing arts unless there is set forth with each such designation the other branch of the healing arts concerned.

4. The use of any other words, initials, symbols or combination thereof which would lead the public to believe such person is licensed to practice medicine in this state.

http://www.azleg.state.az.us/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/ars/32/01455.htm&Title=32&DocType=ARS

(Emphasis added.)

Cryonics Meets the Tobacco Industry

A while back, I had to turn off the comments, on this blog, due to the malicious links being posted, in that section, on a regular basis. This morning, I received the following, from someone who had attempted to comment on this post: http://cryomedical.blogspot.com/2010/11/cryonics-well-oiled-propaganda-machine.html (I am temporarily omitting the name of the author, while awaiting his permission to include it.)

"Bravo for this post. It is good to see people taking on the cryonics industry--and indeed is is an industry like any other--and shining light on it.

There is a deluded notion by those who are so fearful of dying and so desperate for any alternative, that organizations like Alcor are altruistic and can be trusted to do the right thing without supervision. In truth, much of this is the modern version of snake oil.

And what most people don't realize is that people like Brian Wowk have major financial stakes in ensuring cryonics and cryonic-related organizations remain untarnished. They are paid through grant money, donations, etc from foundations or the public.

Even though Suspended Animation does not directly impact Wowk or Steve Harris (of Alcor), if the field of cryonics is shown to be full of con-men and incompetents, then their own funding (and paychecks) are likely to be cut. They have got a very, very large financial stake in all of this.

It is similar to Big Tobacco--none of the major tobacco firms wanted any of their competitors to get nabbed or regulated for their abuses of the public trust or deception/manipulation of the science, because if one tobacco company fell, they would all fall. That's why you see the Brian Wowks of the world coming to the aid of Suspended Animation. They're covering their own asses. Just like Big Tobacco has always banded together against outsiders, even though the individual companies of the industry are direct competitors.

It is time these organizations come under strict legal jurisdiction and regulation. They must be accountable. There must be public light on their activities. Complete transparency and accountability. If they are honest, there should be nothing for them to fear from this.

I hope your efforts prove fruitful. Don't give up. We need to bring some honesty to these industries and the individuals behind them."

(End quote.)
I think that was an excellent assessment of the situation, with the exception being that these companies have much closer ties than the tobacco companies. Suspended Animation, Critical Care Research (Harris et. al.) and 21st Century Medicine (Wowk et. al.) are not competitors. I believe most, (if not all), of SA, CCR and 21CM's funding comes from Saul Kent/LEF. (Saul Kent is identified as the "owner" of 21CM on Alcor's 2008 form 990.)

Dr. Wowk and I are having a debate, on lesswrong.com, and I'm not liking his tactics. I'm not sure if Dr. Wowk is attempting to mislead people, or if he has been mislead, himself, but some of his remarks are way off the mark.

Cryonics' Well-Oiled Propaganda Machine

Why does Brian Wowk PhD write, “Lies travel halfway around world while the truth is putting on its shoes,” in response to someone's comments about my blog, and then temper it with, “(t)his reply is mostly directed to David Gerard, whose comments have been generally sensible except for some misinformation”? (See Dr. Wowk's comments, under the "lesswrong" post, here: http://lesswrong.com/lw/343/suspended_animation_inc_accused_of_incompetence/)

Does Brian Wowk even know what the truth is, in regard to the information to which he would like to object? Like Steve Harris MD, (Chief Medical Advisor to Alcor and someone who posted blatant lies about me on the Internet, in response to my criticisms of Suspended Animation), Dr. Wowk was working in California, while I was working at Suspended Animation, in Florida. He doesn’t know what was going on at SA when I was there, any more than Harris did, and he very likely does not know what really goes on there, now. He also did not work at the Alcor facility, with Larry Johnson, but that didn’t stop him from calling Johnson’s book “400 pages of lies,” (under oath, no less).

Like Steve Harris MD's Critical Care Research, Dr. Wowk’s organization, 21st Century Medicine, receives substantial funding, courtesy of Life Extension Foundation, the same company that funds Suspended Animation and makes generous contributions to Alcor. Both these men live and work in California, so why have they they been two of the primary defenders of SA, a company in Florida? Why don’t Jennifer Chapman (President and Executive Director of Alcor) and Catherine Baldwin (Manager of Suspended Animation) defend the organizations they lead? Why should a PhD and an MD, who are not employees of SA and/or Alcor, defend those companies against accusations of incompetence and unethical behavior? Could it be that many with close ties to Saul Kent, Life Extension Foundation, SA and Alcor are lacking in credibility? Will Dr. Wowk’s efforts to defend those who fund his generous annual compensation, soon leave him with a similar reputation?

Suspended Animation is a secretive organization, which has not produced their “monthly” News Bulletin in nearly two years, and which refuses to identify their personnel, or the qualifications, (or lack thereof), of those personnel. Their case reports, (even the most recent ones), CLEARLY indicate an extreme level of incompetence in performing medical procedures, which were virtually perfected many decades ago, and any defense of their ability to properly perform these procedures would not hold up to the scrutiny of expert witnesses in a court of law, or in front of a regulatory agency.

Dr. Wowk wrote, “In Johnson's case there were also other issues that no decent organization could allow uncontested, such as selling alleged photographs of the remains of Ted Williams on the Internet. Not suing for something like that would expose the organization itself to liability.” I’m baffled by Dr. Wowk’s remarks. As I recall reading, Johnson posted the Ted Williams photos for a very brief time, (minutes, or hours, many years ago), before he realized it was pretty tasteless, and then took the photos down. Alcor did not sue anyone for that activity, when it occurred, as far as I know. Does everyone know what the “decent organization” of Alcor did in response to Larry Johnson’s first whistleblowing, all those years ago? They attempted to pay him $17,000 to keep his mouth shut. They drafted an agreement, but Johnson later changed his mind, didn’t sign the formally-typed version of the document, sent back the $17,000 check, and wrote a book. (Unfortunately, for Johnson, an Arizona judge has ruled the handwritten agreement is binding, something I believe Johnson’s attorneys may be appealing.) In my opinion, Johnson had, not only a right, but an obligation, to inform the public of the activities he witnessed at Alcor, and he should be protected as a whistleblower.

Does anyone think Johnson made more than $17,000, on the book? Think again. He first contacted me, when the book was about to be released. He told me he would never make a profit on the book, because Alcor would sue him for every penny he made, and more. Recent New York court documents state a measly 33,000 copies of Johnson’s book were sold, (an amazingly low number, in light of the generous publicity), yet Alcor is orchestrating ongoing legal battles with Johnson et. al. in three states. With that in mind, I think it's safe to assume Johnson’s prediction rang true, many months ago. Taking the $17K and keeping his mouth shut would have been the fiscally-wise decision, but I believe Johnson felt morally-obligated to expose the events he claims to have witnessed, at Alcor, (a frame of mind I can identify with).

While Dr. Wowk is correct, in that I have not worked for SA in years, and never under the current management, I have read their most recent reports, and I stand by my criticisms of that organization, and of cryonics activities, in general. If Dr. Wowk’s semi-veiled threats about possible “legal redress,” were meant to intimidate me, it was a waste of keystrokes. Personally, I welcome any opportunity to draw attention to the urgent need for the stringent regulation of cryonics organizations, (something I was previously opposed to), and am thankful to Dr. Wowk for presenting this particular opportunity. If these people cannot be trusted to consistently behave in a professional and ethical manner, without someone looking over their shoulders, (and I see little evidence they are capable of doing so), strict regulation is the logical answer. Dr. Wowk showing up, in recent months, to defend what I consider to be extremely unprofessional activities, has been something akin to the “last straw,” for me, in regard to believing anyone working in these organizations can be trusted to be forthcoming, in regard to the truth about Alcor’s and/or SA’s activities and/or capabilities.

For example, Dr. Wowk writes, "SA in fact contracts with professional perfusionists and surgeons." Why did Dr. Wowk leave out the fact that none of these people are guaranteed to show up for cases? When I was working at SA, they had a contract with a group of paramedics, too. That contract involved the paramedic group receiving a monthly retainer and extremely generous compensation for showing up for training sessions, but did not require them to show up for actual cryonics cases, a situation that resulted in SA sending three laymen, with no medical experience whatsoever, to perform (botch) their procedures. On the Cold Filter forum, Steve Harris informed us the perfusion group SA contracts with, costs them a bundle. Not only does SA pay for the perfusionists, but they lease some very expensive equipment from the perfusion group. Mathew Sullivan verified, (also on the Cold Filter forum) that, like the paramedics, the perfusionists are not required to show up for cases, unless they are available, (meaning they are not needed for conventional medical procedures, when SA calls them). In my opinion, contracted medical professionals, who are not obligated to attend cases, are nothing more than “window dressing".

If SA has qualified surgeons available, as Dr. Wowk claims, why was historical cryonics figure, Curtis Henderson kept at relatively warm temperatures, for MANY hours, and subjected to numerous incisions, last year, by SA’s manager, Catherine Baldwin, who is not a physician, much less a surgeon, (though she falsely referred to herself in SA’s published case report as a “surgeon”)? It seems she couldn't even FIND, much less cannulate, some of the largest blood vessels in the human body. (Afterward, someone from SA's perfusion group said, to me, "You were right, they can't do a cannulation.") I’m sure Dr. Wowk is aware of that case, and an Alcor case, which occurred at about the same time, in which another SA pseudo-surgeon, (someone who is also NOT a physician, much less a surgeon), is said to have cut well into the abdomen of an Alcor member, while attempting to perform a femoral cannulation. Is Dr. Wowk not aware that two of SA’s “surgeons,” (who, again, are NOT physicians, at all), butchered these two people, just last year, while trying to perform vascular cannulations, for SA?

SA’s contracted perfusionists did show up for each of those cases, but a perfusionist without a surgeon to perform the cannulation is basically useless. SA might as well have taken along the usual laymen to perform perfusion, since they didn’t have anyone to perform a proper vascular cannulation. It’s pretty meaningless, (and even deceptive), for Dr. Wowk to be claiming SA has “professional perfusionists and surgeons,” when there is no guarantee either will show up for a case, and one is no good without the other. The truth is, NOT ONE staff member of Suspended Animation, or Alcor, is a medical professional qualified to perform vascular cannulations or perfusion, the two medical procedures required to deliver cryonics washout and/or vitrification solutions...the procedures for which SA and Alcor charge $60,000 to $200,000.

Does it make sense to Dr. Wowk, for two companies, (each with a seven-figure annual budget), said to be in the business of delivering medical procedures that require competently-performed vascular cannulations and perfusion, to have staffs of six-to-ten persons, each, without either one having even ONE staff member professionally-qualified to perform the medical services they are selling, with price tags up to $200,000? Why is it the self-proclaimed “world leader” of cryonics, and the company that seems to be their primary standby team, don't have competent, qualified personnel, but contract with professionals who are not guaranteed to show up, instead? (Note that there were no contracts with professional perfusionists, prior to harsh public criticisms of allowing laymen to perform these procedures.)

I believe Dr. Wowk’s comment, in regard to someone attempting to “sabotage” SA’s relationship with their contracted perfusionists, is a reference to me. Perhaps Dr. Wowk does not know that I was acquainted with one of the leaders of that perfusion group, for quite a few years, prior to SA contracting with them. If one of Dr. Wowk's peers, someone he was acquainted with, was to be placed in a potentially career-damaging position, would Dr. Wowk not apprise them of the situation? Perhaps Dr. Wowk does not know that it was I, who first suggested SA contract with that same group, (a suggestion that was shot down, when I made it, back in 2006). Dr. Wowk certainly does not know that, even if I had been happily employed at SA, at the time the perfusion group was contracted, I would have made full disclosure of the situation, to them. I would have warned them they might show up for cases and not have anyone to perform the needed cannulations, because that would have been the professional thing to do. I would also have warned them that there had been a lot of scandal associated with cryonics, and expressed my concerns regarding certain issues related to cryonics procedures, (such as issues related to SA's medications, and state laws regarding performing procedures on the deceased). Finally, I would have asked their permission to post their company name on the SA website, before placing it there, something Catherine Baldwin failed to do. (After I informed the group their company name was listed on the SA website, (ironically, while SA was not willing to disclose the identities of their own staff members), the perfusion group requested their name be removed from the site.) Dr. Wowk can call my gestures “sabotage,” if he likes, but those professionals deserved to know the truth about what they were getting into, and Catherine Baldwin should have been the one to inform them. I wrote about my communication with SA’s perfusionists, here: http://cryomedical.blogspot.com/2009/11/suspended-animations-perfusionists.html

Dr. Wowk remarks that “Alcor's Chief Medical Advisor, Steven B. Harris, MD, has sat on the Editorial Board of Skeptic magazine for many years and is respected for his contributions to scientific skepticism.” Steve Harris is the head of another secretive LEF-funded organization, Critical Care Research (CCR). The last known staff members of CCR, (a company that receives nearly a million dollars a year in funding, from the same company that funds SA and 21stCM), were Harris and three of his family members. Harris has publicly distributed a mountain of questionable medical advice, and doled out numerous blatant lies, in attempts to defend the companies his benefactors fund. I’ve written about him, extensively, on this blog. (Check the index, on the right side of the page.) I think Dr. Wowk will understand why I am unimpressed, though I'm guessing he hoped other readers would be. Anyone of reasonable intelligence, and having general knowledge of perfusion procedures, and being aware of some of Harris' many bizarre responses to my criticisms of Alcor and SA's perfusion procedures, would be skeptical of Harris.

Until recently, I had a fairly high regard for Dr. Wowk’s integrity, but in my opinion, he’s starting to look like someone fairly close to the hub of a well-oiled propaganda-spewing machine.

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

Irrational Arguments for the Current Practices of Cryonics Organizations

While I was impressed with "Fundie's" sentimental rationalization for uploading, yesterday, (see my previous blog entry), I found one of his other arguments completely insane. He was writing in response to my accusations that the personnel of Alcor and Suspended Animation have been falsely presented, to the public, as physicians, something I believe is illegal.

He writes:
"As for the use of words like physician, patient, etc., definitions are *subjective*. Melody may not believe that, but her personal opinion on the subject is not sufficient justification for infringing the liberty of others. Even if the whole of "the medical community" agrees on a definition, that still doesn't make that definition objective. Even if 99.9% of society agrees, that still does not make the definition objective.

I am arguing that people have the right to go to witch doctors if they want to, and to call them doctors if they want to, and Melody has the right to try to persuade them not to, but not to interfere with what they do and say."
http://www.network54.com/Forum/291677/message/1287159088/No+response+other+than+more+threats

I'm sure most RATIONAL people see how Fundie's (irrational) rationalization does not apply to my complaint. Yes..."people have the right to go to witch doctors if they want to, and to call them doctors if they want to," BUT those witch doctors had best NOT be presenting themselves as physicians, because that would be illegal. I can call my mechanic "The Car Doctor," or my husband "Doctor Strangelove," if I want to, (just teasing, honey), but those two people cannot go around presenting themselves, or each other, as physicians. There's nothing "*subjective*" about that, the law is very clear.

If Alcor and Suspended Animation want to disclose (in BIG BOLD LETTERS on the home pages of their websites, and the front pages of their legal documents), that most of the people performing their medical procedures have little-to-no formal medical training, and some have nothing more than a high school diploma, and people still want to pay $60,000 to $150,000, (sometimes even more), for one of their procedures, I'm fine with that. Always have been, always will be.

HOWEVER, if Alcor publishes a case report, with photographs of people dressed in surgical garb, performing surgery, and in that case report they list their personnel with titles such as "Chief Surgeon," and "Assistant Surgeon," when the only known degree between those people is a BA in Philosophy, (someone please correct me, if I am wrong, in regard to Michael "Mike Darwin" Federowicz and Jerry Leaf), I say Alcor is attempting to defraud their members and potential members, into believing their personnel are physicians. When Catherine Baldwin describes herself, in a public document, as the "backup surgeon," I believe she is falsely presenting herself as a physician, with the intention of defrauding Suspended Animation's clients and potential clients.

When Fundie goes on to ponder whether everyone should agree with my views on same sex marriage, skin graft surgery, and religion, it's obvious he's desperately trying to create some sort of distraction, rather than address my accusation of cryonics organizations misrepresenting their personnel as actual medical professionals, when they are most often are not. Fundie REALLY shows his desperation with comments like, "Should we just run everything we do and say by Melody first?" Does Fundie think I don't have a a right to express my viewpoints on topics related to medical procedures and medical ethics with which I am familiar, and does he really believe I expect everyone to agree with me, on ANY given topic? Not likely. He's just trying to distract from the matter at hand. He KNOWS my complaint is valid, and especially of concern to lawmakers and regulators, given that some people associated with the organizations I am complaining about, not only ask for large fees for their shoddy services, but encourage people to leave irrevocable trusts and donate their estates to organizations such as Alcor.

]10/18/2010 EDIT: I removed the comment that "Fundie" misrepresented my viewpoints on things such as same sex marriage and skin grafts. He had written "should not be illegal" and I read "should be illegal." I'm fairly liberal in my thinking. I even think people have the right to pay six figures for a crappy cryopreservation...I just don't think the companies providing those crappy services have the right to misrepresent the quality of their services, or the qualifications of their personnel, to an unsuspecting public, and I believe that is EXACTLY what Alcor and Suspended Animation have been doing, for a very long time.

EUCRIO, Cryonics UK and Ben Best

Ben Best writes:
"David Styles announce the beginning of Eucrio, an organization intended to give Suspended Animation, Inc -like standby/stabilization services to all the countries in the European Union, plus Norway..."

That should scare the hell out of cryonicists across the pond! Suspended Animation has an established history of sending laymen to attempt to perform, (and miserably botch!) advanced medical procedures.
http://cryomedical.blogspot.com/2010/09/partial-review-of-suspended-animations.html
http://cryomedical.blogspot.com/2010/09/catherine-baldwin-just-another.html

"...David has a lot of energy, intelligence, and determination, so if anyone can make this project work, he is one of the few..."
http://www.depressedmetabolism.com/2010/10/11/october-2010-cryonics-symposium-in-germany/

Ben Best has also been a staunch advocate of Suspended Animation, even when others at Cryonics Institute felt he was grossly misrepresenting SA's capabilities, on CI's website.
Styles claims to have medical professionals, ready to perform cryonics procedures, all across Europe, but I've seen NO evidence of that. He certainly is living up to Ben's description as being "Suspended Animation, Inc-like"!
http://cryomedical.blogspot.com/2010/10/impersonating-physician.html
Cryonics Quackery
http://cryomedical.blogspot.com/2010/09/cryonics-quackery-vs-valid-speculation.html

In response to Styles announcement of EUCRIO, one cryonics enthusiast writes:
"Dear David,
I have always been interested in cryonics, so when I read that a new cryonics service provider had been born in Europe I greeted the news with enthusiasm. Then I went to your website and read this:

EUCRIO charges a membership fee of €35/month, and then an extra fee per service, which each will run into the tens of thousands of euros.

Really? Have you done your maths/market research correctly? Let me help you out:

assuming an average remaining lifespan of 50 years (I am 32), my membership expenses will come up to 21,000 euros PLUS "an extra fee per service, which each will run into the tens of thousands of euros". So, say, 30-40000 euros to have someone chop my head off, wrap it in dry ice, and post it to the US, where the storage facility will charge me an additional 80000 dollars to perfuse and store my head. Oh wait, since I won't have been paying my Alcor membership religiously for the previous 50 years (because I was paying EUCRIO's), that's another 25000 dollars 'last minute' fee. Thus, the total price for my suspension will be: 80000 + 25000 + 55000 USD (=40000 euros) = 160000 USD!
You've gotta be kidding.

1) your service is MUCH MORE expensive than Alcor's, which charges 25000 USD for its international stand by/recovery option. Why would anyone choose you, then? If I am run over by a bus, do you really think that my chances of being resucitated will be much higer after my brain has been at room temperature for, say, 5 hours (time that it will take you to fly to where I am in Europe) than 12 hours (time that it will take Alcor to fly to where I am in Europe)?

2) while Alcor have been seen to do what they promise and haggle corpses with hospitals in a few occasions, where's the guarantee that you won't just pack up and disappear? The fact that you mention having at your disposal doctors, technicians, and specialists of all sorts without identifying anyone able to vouch for you, as well as your complete lack of investment in infrastructures (at least Alcor have spent some money on its facilities and equipment) smacks of SCAM SCAM SCAM.

Seriously, do you think people are idiots? Who is your target audience, rational individuals who see potential in the progress of scientific knowledge or impressionalble cult followers?

And even the latter can probably do simple arithmetics and figure out quickly that you are unbelievably expensive (way more than any other provider on the market) and have no credentials whatsoever. You are doing the cryonics movement a disservice and I sincerely hope that you will be exposed soon.
http://forum.rickross.com/read.php?12,64749,page=50 (Emphasis added.)

Recent cryonics activities do appear more "cult-like" and "scam-like," than ever before. I hate to say this, but Ben Best seems to be somewhere near the center of some very questionable marketing efforts.

REPRINT of Old Post from Cold Filter Cryonics Forum

In searching for some information for a new post I wanted to make, I stumbled upon an exchange I had with Ben Best, about Suspended Animation, more than two years ago. I wanted to preserve it on my blog, and find it still relevant since SA continues on a path of incompetence, (see this recent post, and this), so here it is:

Endless Debate
April 18 2008 at 6:14 PM

Ben: If SA had failed to wash-out the blood, then that could be a source of blood on the board, even without vascular damage. So it is contradictory to claim that the only source of blood could have been from vascular damage when you are claiming that residual blood would be expected from an inadequate wash-out.

You are correct, in that I should have written "possible evidence," as the blood Andy described could have indicated several things. I believe SA over-pressurized the patient to the point of vascular damage, due to what I consider to be a mountain of evidence in the SA report, regarding alarms, the funeral director inquiring if the pump was on at the time of the spurt, etc., and the general inability of the team to address the pressure issues they were obviously experiencing, as well as my personal knowledge of the members of the team and their capabilities (or lack thereof), and my expertise in perfusion. I believe the patient was subsequently under-perfused, due to what I calculate to be a rather low average flow rate.

Ben: In any case -- as I pointed-out previously -- a clot associated with the stroke hemorrhage in the right hemisphere dislodged during the vitrification perfusion, and there was adequate release of blood to explain blood on the board.

Andy has already anticipated the question I was going to ask, here, and has stated that perfusion was continued, following the removal of the clot, until the effluent was clear, and that the board was subsequently clean. SA attempted to perfuse the entire patient (both head and body), and CI perfused the head a second time, but it seems that blood remained in the patient and drained later, indicating an incomplete washout. I have to agree with Andy, that it is more probable the blood came from the body, rather than the head that was perfused twice, and I can’t imagine you want to argue that CI didn’t do an adequate isolated perfusion of the head.

Why did the clot remain, following SA’s attempts to perform the washout procedure, anyway? What about the clot-dissolving medications (streptokinase) the SA team supposedly administered? Are you aware that streptokinase is contraindicated in stroke patients? "Streptokinase has not been shown to benefit patients with acute ischemic stroke, but it has been shown to increase their risk of intracranial hemorrhage and death. Of 3 major randomized controlled trials, all were terminated prematurely because streptokinase was associated with unacceptable rates of mortality." http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic558.htm

Ben: My use of the word "fabrication" was meant in the sense of rationalization not intentional deception ("lie"). I believe the authors wrote that the blood spurt occurred under pressure from the ATP to rationalize or explain the spurt, without good evidence for this rationalization.

Where I come from, (the South), the word "fabrication" is a polite word for "lie." At any rate, there should be no tolerance of "rationalization," or "fabrication," in a medical case report. Of course, what can we expect from someone who excels at writing FICTION? (Not that there is anything wrong with fiction, when it is identified as such.) There’s a lot of other information that should not have been included in the SA case report, such as comments about an employee’s second job, and comments about a former employee, and I think you know the spirit in which those comments were made. I believe there has been a lot of "rationalization" at SA, in the past, "rationalization" that has perhaps led to quite a few ill-advised courses of action, the firing and resignations of capable persons, AND perhaps in people like you, Ben, believing in the capabilities of SA more than you should.

Ben: There would be no motive for the authors to intentionally deceive readers into believing that the ATP caused the blood spurt. That is the crux of your case that damage was caused.

You've hit the proverbial nail on the head, Ben. The authors could not possibly want to deceive people into believing they over-pressurized the patient. The point is: THEY DID NOT KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT PERFUSION TO REALIZE THE IMPLICATIONS OF WHAT THEY WERE WRITING!! The crux of my case that damage was caused are details in the report, and the fact that the SA team and case authors didn't have a clue as to what they were doing, or even writing. I think it's blatantly obvious they were too ignorant of perfusion technology to realize that what you now call a "rationalization" would strongly indicate damaging over-pressurization of the patient. Who in the world would create, and include, fabricated remarks in a report, that would indicate malpractice??? Only someone who was not knowledgeable enough to understand that what he was writing would indicate gross mistreatment of a patient. Why are you so willing to turn over the care of CI's patients to people who know so little about the medical procedures they claim to be capable of providing? How can you call them “experts,” and refer to their services as “state of the art,” when their staff members are extremely unqualified and they are decades behind, in regard to the quality of care provided in conventional medicine, in virtually identical procedures?

Ben: I could say that your arguments are self-serving because you have had bitter personal experiences with Charles Platt and you want to prove that he is an evil, incompetent man. It is better to stick to the evidence of the case than to challenge motives and character -- which too easily leads to acrimony.

I don't think I would call Charles, (or anyone), "evil," and I don't think he is "incompetent," in general. (I think you'll find me sincerely praising his writing skills, and other talents, on this forum, on a number of occasions.) However, I do believe he has no place in managing people, or in making decisions regarding medical procedures and/or the related equipment.

Are the motives and character of someone who exerts a significant amount of influence over major decisions of a company that is offering medical services irrelevant? I think not. What if their motives ARE self-interest, greed, or their own egotistical needs, more so than patient care or overall progress in the field?

If you consider someone who doesn't want cryopreservation to be “committing suicide,” as you seem to, then is a company providing less than optimal medical care, when they can afford quality professionals and equipment, not guilty of “negligent homicide,” at best? Why should a company send a fabricator to attempt a very dangerous medical procedure, when they pay him the same salary as a qualified person who could SAFELY perform the procedure? I have no idea how you can be supportive of this behavior, or how you don't see that the main focus of SA, for many years, has been certain "engineering" projects, rather than the provision of competent patient care. I believe this is clearly evidenced by the three inexperienced, unqualified people who showed up for the CI-81 case.

Ben: I think that what serves me best is to know the truth, whether this be mistakes or a job well done. The case reports I write disclose many mistakes, including mistakes made by me. The best way to avoid repeating future mistakes is to document them well and think about how to avoid making the same mistakes again in the future.

The best way for SA to avoid mistakes in perfusing a patient, would be to take the $77,000 being paid to one of the fabricators who was on the CI-81 team and pay it to a perfusionist. They can report perfusion mistakes until the earth gets swallowed up by the sun, but they are not going to be able to properly train laymen with a weekend trip to California, some videos, and one case in four years. Anyone who thinks they can doesn't have a proper understanding of perfusion technology.

Ben: I do not accept the claim that if a person perfusing a cryonics Patient has not had four years of perfusion training that that the patient will necessarily have experienced vascular damage

I certainly agree that I could have probably been a good perfusionist without the numerous hours of English, History, Government, Psychology, and other classes I was required to take for my degree, but I believe I would have killed quite a number of patients without my clinical experience. I performed 110 cases, on human patients, with an instructor standing over my shoulder, to prevent me from harming anyone, before I graduated perfusion school. This was after many months of classroom instruction on perfusion techniques, and with a good understanding of anatomy and physiology. How in the world can anyone as intelligent as you, believe Gary and Ken can walk out of the shop and safely perform perfusion? You can only think this because, as my husband says, "people don't know what they don't know." What you don't know about perfusion and the SA personnel allows you to believe they can safely perform whole body perfusion, but I believe I know better.

Ben: By that logic every cryonics patient ever perfused or given a wash-out by CI or Alcor would have experienced serious vascular damage -- more harm than good -- because they were not perfused or washed-out by a professional perfusionist. Why single-out the 81st patient?

It's wrong of you to say I assume every patient has experienced serious vascular damage, as there isn't much evidence of over-pressurization in CI's reports. The circuit pressures CI mistakenly recorded as patient pressures would have been significantly higher than the actual patient pressures, so I doubt any pressure-induced vascular damage occurred. In that situation, I would be more concerned with wondering if the pressure was high enough to adequately perfuse the brain. I single out the 81st patient because it's the only SA case report I've thoroughly reviewed, and as far as I know it is the only case performed by the current staff. As I’ve mentioned, many times before, my purpose is to expose what I believe to be irresponsible and unethical behavior at a company of which I have firsthand knowledge, so I have no idea why you think I would discuss Alcor, or CI cases, in which SA was not involved. There are a number of other reasons I single out the SA case, including the fact that SA can afford medical professionals, while Alcor and CI may not be able to.

Ben: I acknowledge that improving perfusion quality is important, and I believe that Alcor, CI and SA are all making efforts to improve perfusion quality. The point at issue here is not whether perfusion in cryonics (or for the 81st patient) could have been better, but whether vascular damage was caused.

The REAL question I’m asking is: Why is SA not providing qualified, experienced perfusionists and EMTs or paramedics, when they can easily afford to? Why should they pay equivalent salaries to people who don't even understand the procedures enough to realize what their reports indicate, or worse yet, to people incapable of even authoring their own reports, due to their total lack of knowledge in regard to the procedures, and medicine and cryonics, in general?! With the salaries they pay, SA should be providing EXCELLENT, PROFESSIONAL medical services, not simply "better" than what has been available in cryonics, in the past.

I respectfully, but strongly, disagree with your comments in regard to SA's efforts to improve. I don't see any evidence of change, other than the last News Bulletin which indicated they have implemented a few suggestions Mathew, Aschwin and I made a long time ago, suggestions that were previously ignored, (BLS certification, lift gates, etc.) It also included news regarding the new "workshop" in California, which only leads me to believe the primary focus of SA remains the "engineering and design" projects of Charles Platt. We haven't heard anything from SA, in months. When you tell me SA is using the more than half-a-million-dollars I (conservatively) estimate they are spending, annually, on their payroll and consulting fees, to pay for medical professionals, as they should, I'll believe SA is making an effort to improve.

Ben: Even if a single spurt caused some harm (and this is questionable if a spurt would relieve pressure and the ATP was immediately turned-off) it does not constitute evidence that it resulted in such damage as to override the many benefits of the SA treatment for the patient.

WHAT BENEFITS, Ben??? Packing the patient in ice and performing chest compressions, or injecting meds into IVs that were, fortunately, left in place by hospital personnel? (I don't believe any of the three SA team members would have been able to gain IV access.) Almost anyone off the street could and would do those things, for not much more than minimum wage, so why does SA WASTE a payroll and consulting fees that are most certainly well over a half-a-million dollars a year on this??? (Again, I think this figure is conservative.) Don't you get my point that SA could have a qualified perfusionist, and medical personnel experienced at intubation and the insertion of IVs, for the amount of money they spend on employees and consultants?? And, why do you believe CI's clients should pay $60,000, (about three times the cost of open-heart surgery), for a bunch of rank amateurs to possibly harm them through the improper use of a perfusion circuit, rather than leaving that money to cryonics research, or their heirs? Note from October 10, 2010: I neglected to note that this comment, from Ben, was inherently ridiculous. it was not the "single spurt" that would have caused the harm, but the pressure that had built up inside the patient, prior to the incision, (which resulted in the spurt), that would have been deleterious. The spurt was not the problem; it was evidence that inappropriate pressures had been applied to CI-81's vascular system, and hence all internal organs and tissues, (including the brain, of course), for god-knows-how-long, prior to the cannulation attempt.

Ben: I am not claiming to certain knowledge of what happened during the wash-out. Any scenario I can construct of the events associated with the blood spurt is like a jigsaw puzzle with a few pieces missing -- or pieces that don't fit. But although all the explanations have deficiencies, none of them can be used to make a convincing argument for vascular damage. This was the key point of my posting, and you did not address this point in your reply.

I think the report has more than enough circumstantial evidence that charges of gross negligence and malpractice, most likely including over-pressurization to the point of vascular damage, would hold up in court, if this were not a "legally dead" person.

Ben: I regret if anything I have had to say here strikes you as a personal offense.

Ditto. I also regret that we have such strong difference of opinion, in regard to the services of SA, but you know I will argue that I understand perfusion better than you, and that I have experience working with the SA staff and consultants, other than Ms. Baldwin. You don't offend me, but you disappoint me by continuing to endorse a company I feel has behaved unethically, and has shown little evidence of a change in strategy.

CI is, for the most part, SA’s only source of new clients and therefore holds the leverage to force that company to behave more responsibly by demanding they provide experienced, qualified personnel, (which would not affect their budget), yet you don’t do this. In my mind, there won't be significant change at SA, for as long as the staff and consultants remain the same, and you are helping to maintain the status quo. Unfortunately, I feel this endless debate could go back-and-forth, forever, so I think we are just going to have to agree to disagree.

Impersonating a Physician

From Healthgrades.com:

"WARNING: Federal Law prohibits any person from:

•Impersonating a physician
•Falsely representing themselves as a physician
•Falsely claiming to represent a physician
•Falsifying physician information or
•Any other fraudulent activities related to physician identification and/or information"
http://www.healthgrades.com/profile-manager/Security/PrimaryLandingPage.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2Fprofile-manager%2FDefault.aspx

I don't know about everyone else, but I believe referring to one's self, as a "surgeon," (ala Catherine Baldwin and others working in cryonics), is the same as "impersonating a physician," or "falsely representing themselves as a physician," since one cannot be a surgeon without first being a physician. (ALL surgeons are physicians, hence calling one's self a "surgeon" is equivalent to calling one's self a "physician.")

In addition to federal laws, there are state laws against mispresenting one's self as a physician.

More Cryonics Forum Foolishness

In response to my pondering whether it is legal for Alcor to refer to the residents of the Dewars as "patients," some anonymous soul, on CF responded:

"The U.S. Constitution says:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; _or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press_"

Of course it is legal for Alcor to say whatever they like. If you don't like it, it is also legal for you to disagree, using your own printing press, as you are doing."
http://www.network54.com/Forum/291677/message/1286384136/Is+it+legal+to+say+that-

First Amendment protection does not allow individuals, or entitites, to "say whatever they like," and if "Fundie" wants proof of that, he should consult with Charles Platt, or maybe with Mr. Platt's attorney, who specializes in law related to First Amendment protection.

In addition to the obvious restriction of laws related to libel and slander, there are also laws that prohibit people from impersonating physicians and other medical professionals. In calling their clients "patients," I believe organizations such as Alcor and Suspended Animation are implying the existence of qualified medical personnel. In addition to that, they often refer to their personnel as "surgeons," or other medical professionals, when the people they are referring to often have absolutely no medical training, and are not physicians, much less surgeons. This seems to be a fraudulent public representation of their personnel, and I think it should be against the law...if it's not, already.

Cryonics Comic Relief - Uploading

Robert Ettinger has been attempting to make a point-by-point argument, (on Cold Filter and Cryonet), against the probability of uploading being successful. I happen to agree with Mr. Ettinger, that copies can never be the original, but that doesn't seem to matter to many cryonicists / transhumanists. For many years, I thought the goal of uploading was for an individual to live on, but it only recently dawned on me that I've been mistaken. It seems the majority of the transhumanists would be happy if a mere copy of themselves "lived" on, after they were dead. Personally, I think, with extremely rare exceptions, future generations would find copies of the thinking patterns of dead people, programmed into computers unnecessary, and the associated narcissism laughable.

This morning, Mr. Ettinger writes:
"Reason 3. Time intervals in the computer and in life...
Now, assume the original lives on, while his simulation is being run on the computer. The simulation "lives" like a film with frames at non-zero intervals. The original lives in some fashion not presently understood--possibly in a continuous fashion with no gaps, or possibly jumping each time to an appreciably different state with nothing in between. Even in the latter case, however, it is exceedingly unlikely that the intervals between successive states would be the same for the original and for the simulation. Hence, it seems to me, the simulation cannot be faithful to the original. Again, we can't know yet how important the differences may be, but there will surely be differences."
http://www.network54.com/Forum/291677/message/1286501818/Reason+3--why+uploading+unlikely

Suspended Animation's Mathew Sullivan, responds with:
"At a basic level, the "simulation" is nothing more than a tool...
My car does not function exactly as me and it does not even have legs, but it can get me to work more efficiently than I can by jogging."
http://www.network54.com/Forum/291677/message/1286507653/At+a+basic+level%2C+the+%26quot%3Bsimulation%26quot%3B+is+nothing+more+than+a+tool

Huh? How is that supposed to be an argument for uploading? The simulation is a "tool" for what? I don't get it.

Luke Parrish responds to one of Mr. Ettinger's arguments with:
"Ultimately, saying that the paper with a complete programmatic description (combined, presumably at some point with a turing machine which simulates it) is not a hydrogen atom is simply begging the question. How do you know it is not a hydrogen atom? What property is essential to our definition of hydrogen atoms which this lacks?"
http://www.network54.com/Forum/291677/message/1286030862/Marks+on+paper

Huh? again. It lacks being a real hydrogen item, that's what it lacks. A description, or simulation of a hydrogen atom, written in code in a computer, is exactly that...a description or simulation, not the original, or even a hydrogen atom, at all. Later on, in the discussion, Luke admits the computerized simulation of the hydrogen atom is a hydrogen atom "in abstract form," but still calls it "the atom," something Mr. Ettinger seems to find as puzzling as I.

To sum up my thinking about these exchanges, my question is:
If Luke programs a perfect copy of a bear and its environment, into his computer, and his virtual bear takes a virtual crap in the virtual woods, does Luke smell it?

As I've always said, if nothing else, the cryonics forums are good for cheap entertainment. (Not referring to Mr. Ettinger's remarks, but to the responses to those remarks.)