Edgar Swank - Cryonics' Tie to the Exploitation of Impoverished Young Women

I find it quite distasteful and upsetting, to be writing about the "Cryogirl Scandal," but if no one else is going to address the obvious leadership deficit over at CI, and the total uselessness and embarrassment of ACS, I feel compelled to. I wrote a lot about Jim Yount and Ben Best, these past two days, but little about Edgar Swank. I'm going to write about him, now, and then I am going to wash my hands of the Cryogirl situation, and hope the members of CI step up and demand new leadership, preferably someone who will place his organization's best interests ahead of generating income for his "friends," (something that would probably be a novel idea, in cryonics.)

On Swank's personal website, (which has been archived), one can find a link (including nude photos) to the young "Grace," who will "be your personal servant guide while visiting Cebu. She'll take good care of you," for a mere $400 a week. If $400 is a little too much for one's wallet, Swank includes a link to a travel agent in the Philippines, which promotes a boardinghouse in Cebu, where "girls" can be had for "$20 all night, $200 all week 24/7," along with links to "The Girls of Venezuela" and "The Erotic Traveler" which "is predominately about commercial sex with women of legal and proper age. Relationships, dating, and even inter-marriage are also explored. TET is for men who love the girls, nightlife, romance of Asia, Latin America, and beyond." (Mr. Swank and his friends are not only creepy and disgusting, but cheap.)

I hear Mr. Swank says prostitution is a "way of life" in the Philippines, and that is "what girls do over there." I also hear he claims to be assisting these young ladies, in finding a way to a better life, (?by selling them to American men?). I don’t suppose Mr. Swank ever thought of simply DONATING some of his money to schools, or healthcare, as opposed to promoting the exploitation of impoverished young women. Prostitution may be "tolerated," in the Philippines, but make no mistake, it is quite illegal.

Prostitution in the Philippines is illegal. It is a serious crime with penalties ranging up to life imprisonment for those involved in trafficking. It is covered by the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act. Prostitution is sometimes illegally available through brothels (also known as casa), bars, karaoke bars (also known as KTVs), massage parlors, street walkers and escort services.
There are an estimated 800,000 women working as prostitutes in the Philippines, with up to half of them believed to be underage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_the_Philippines

Maybe I could talk Mr. Swank into taking a holiday, in the Philippines, and have some friends of mine meet him at the airport.

Let's not overlook Swank's fond memories of his involvement in the Church of Satan, or his self-proclaimed "15 minutes (OK, more like 15 seconds) of fame," invoking the devil to "come forth, come forth..." on a Geraldo Rivera show. Swank was a little too old (about 29) to be playing make-believe, at the time of that show, if you ask me, and invoking Satan to "come forth," on national television seems to be nothing more than attention-seeking, adolescent behavior. By many accounts, organizations such as the Church of Satan and the Temple of Vampires appear to be little more than cults and pyramid scams, in which one can buy their way to the top.

To the cryonicists interested in crying "bigotry," in response to these criticisms, maybe you should point your finger at Mr. Swank. On his personal website, he links to the National Alliance, a white separatist organization. Below that link, is the comment, "Racial views expressed in this site and maillist are not necessarily those of Edgar Swank..." The racial views are "not necessarily" his views? Does that mean maybe they are? If he's not a racist, why is he including a link to that type of material on his site? Just out of curiosity, how many non-whites are there, in the cryostats and Dewars?

I don't know how to say this nicely...Edgar Swank and Jim Yount are a couple of scumbags, who exploit impoverished, vulnerable young women, and engage in questionable business ethics, while operating a non-profit cryonics organization, linked to CI. An interesting thought, just came to me...Would the scientists of the future look at the biographical information of Swank and Yount, and be charitable in donating their time and resources toward attempting to revive such individuals?

Maybe Mr. Swank's New Year's resolution could be to ASSIST the young people of the Philippines, (and more local needy young women), rather than EXPLOIT them. And, maybe his ACS partner, Mr. Yount, could donate some of his "spoons full of sugar" to cryonics research, or the needy, without expecting something illicit, in return.

Ben Best's Lame Excuses

Yesterday, I posted an entry that, for the most part, was something I wrote and saved, months ago. I posted it because I've heard others are attempting to convince CI to sever ties with ACS, and I wanted them to know I support their efforts. I think there are a few more things these people should know, about the "Cryogirl" situation.

Back in October, I publicly complained that Cryonics Institute's president, Ben Best, had done nothing to isolate CI from the American Cryonics Society (ACS), though he had been aware of the impending "Cryogirl Scandal," since February.

In an email, Ben responded that CI had 19 ACS patients in storage and he would not leave these patients “out in the warm.” I responded that no one was asking him to do any such thing, and told him his excuse for not taking action was "ridiculous." Ben responded with, "But that would be the consequence of CI severing all ties with ACS.” Ben, and I both know that neither he, nor anyone else at CI or ACS, can remove cryo-suspended persons from the cryostats.

CI is regulated as a cemetery, and it would take an act of Congress, (or, at least, a State of Michigan court order), to remove someone from the cryostats, at CI. Anyone aware of that situation, (as, certainly, Ben Best is), should have been able to figure that out. Personally, I think Ben Best was pretending to be altruistic, and making lame excuses; he was probably afraid that if heads started rolling, his would be one of them, since he was personally involved in the "Cryogirl" scandal. (Note: I don't think Ben did anything that should result in his dismissal, in regard to his part in the Cryogirl debacle. However, his reluctance to do everything possible, to protect CI, coupled with his recent efforts to conceal information about the Styles/TOV situation, from Andy Zawacki and the rest of the CI board, clearly indicate he cannot be trusted to act in the best interest of CI.)

I believe Ben Best attempted to apply some very subversive, psychological manipulations, on the cryonics community, when he wrote this, on the Cold Filter forum:

"The enemies of cryonics claim that I have conspired with vampires against the CI Board on the basis of the conversation I had with David in April. David's description of the conversation is a misrepresentation in this regard. There is a bright side to this allegation, however. To claim that I tried to hide David's affiliations from the CI Board is to admit that the CI Board has no connection with vampirism or satanism. Much as our enemies would like to smear CI as being satanist or vampirist, they cannot make this claim while at the same time claiming that the Board is an innocent victim of concealment attempts by me. They can't have it both ways." http://www.network54.com/Forum/291677/message/1292130833/Re-+Cryonics+versus+Satanism

I think Ben Best was, clearly, attempting to "rally the troops" against HIS critics, by painting any such persons as "enemies of cryonics." People who want the leadership figures of cryonics organizations to avoid allowing their organizations to be tied to scandalous activities, are NOT "enemies of cryonics." Cryonics is a process; no one can be an "enemy" of it. Ben was clearly trying to persuade the audience that I, and others, who objected to his unprofessional behaviors were THEIR "enemies." He tried to make two distinctly opposing sides, in the situation, using the term "our enemies," and "they," when discussing HIS critics. I am one person, who accused Ben of exposing CI to serious scandal, when he attempted to hide the truth about Styles, from CI's Board of Directors. I am not a part of any "they" comprised of "enemies of cryonics," and I do not want to "have it both ways." I have NOT accused CI's board of being connected to vampirism, or satanism. I'm just one person, tremendously disappointed in Ben Best.

Ben Best claims to have a background that includes advanced-level physics, chemistry, and pharmacology, yet he consistently makes simple errors, related to these fields. For many years, CI recorded "patient pressures" of approximately 100mmHg, until I pointed out that most of that pressure could be attributed to the small lumens of the cannulae being used by CI. (When I made that observation, I was unaware of Ben's educational background, or I probably would not have been very understanding of that mistake. For a layman to overlook such a mistake is understandable, but for someone claiming a background in advanced physics, it's inexcusable.) It's a very simple concept: If you restrict the outlet diameter of a hose, the pressure in the hose increases.

After my last visit to CI, Andy Zawacki called me, quite exasperated, because he and Ben were having a disagreement, over how to zero the pressure sensor/alarms, on the perfusion circuit. He said Ben was insisting they set the pressure sensor to zero, while fluid was flowing through the pressure line, something that made no sense to him (Andy). He said Ben insisted I told him that was the way perfusionists zero the pressure line. I told Andy to check the documentation I had left, which clearly indicated there should be no flow through the line, and the line should be open to air, before the sensor is set to zero. Again, an elementary concept...obviously, the sensor should be set to zero, when the pressure is KNOWN to be zero! Simple physics. Andy recognized that, but Ben did not. (Ben was recalling my instructions for flushing the line, not zero-ing it.) Again, this is something that should have been instantly obvious, to someone with a background in physics.

Then, there is the matter, of Ben writing, in the CI-95 case report, (in the same sentence, I believe), that "solids formed in solution, but there were no precipitates," when "precipitates" ARE solids that form as the result of a chemical reaction, certainly something any pharmacist should know. This event occurred, when Ben made the decision to modify the vitrification solutions, DURING the cryopreservation of Mr. Curtis Henderson. Was that something a pharmacist, or a chemist, would do? With his pharmacological background, shouldn't Ben have known the mixture would precipitate? Isn't it simply common sense, to avoid modifying the solutions, in the middle of a case, if one is not familiar with the outcome of including any given additive?

"Precipitation is the formation of a solid in a solution or inside another solid during a chemical reaction or by diffusion in a solid. When the reaction occurs in a liquid, the solid formed is called the precipitate..." (Emphasis added.)

As for Ben's extensive scientific writings, I have to agree with !Jill, who says, "It looks like Ben Best, and others in cryonics, write with their textbooks open." I think many of the scientific articles used to sell cryonics, are simply the regurgitation of information that has already been published in textbooks. How many of the insiders can actually contribute to the scientific advancement, of cryonics? Are they really accomplishing anything, or are they simply good academics, capable of impressing an audience comprised mostly of laymen? Are they impressing anyone, other than themselves, and each other, and people who don't have much of a scientific background?

Finally, there's the matter of Ben trying to defend himself, by referring to his income and his self-imposed "monkhood." How many people reading this blog entry get paid $30,000 a year, plus free room and board, and had all-expenses-paid trips to the UK, Japan, Germany, Arizona, Florida, and Oregon, (and maybe more), over the past couple of years? And, did anyone ask Ben Best to give up his social life, or his sex life, in exchange for the presidency of CI? I'm not buying into Ben's martyrdom, and neither should anyone else. There are a lot of, what my teenagers would call "posers," in cryonics, and I think Ben Best is one of them.

Many times I've heard the excuse that "no one else wants to be the president of CI," but I doubt that's true. Even if CI does not have the funds to attract a great scientific mind, having someone of integrity would be preferable to having someone who is "carrying more secrets than the Titanic," but feels he can "handle one more," (allegedly comments made by Ben Best, to David Styles), especially when it comes to withholding information from CI's Board of Directors.

American Cryonics Society (ACS) and "Cryogirl"

In mid-July, I received a very long string of emails, which appeared to be from the private email account of "Cryogirl," (close to 100 messages, I believe). Most of these were forwarded messages that had been exchanges between Cryogirl and some well-known cryonicists, (members of ACS, Alcor and CI). I verified the contents of the messages with three individuals, (two whose private emails to/from Cryogirl had been forwarded to me, and a third person who was not involved, but who was aware of the situation). All three of these people acknowledged the emails were genuine. (Since they have now identified themselves, I will note the Alcor member was Shannon Vyff and the CI member was CI's president, Ben Best. I think Ms. Vyff has been doing her best to attempt to rectify the situation, but I can't say the same for Mr. Best, who seems to care more about himself, than his organization.)

I believe the person who forwarded the emails wanted me to publish them, but I was reluctant to, for a number of reasons. My primary concern was the children, (not just the children of Cryogirl and/or her husband, but the children of others, involved in the situation), who could be embarrassed and hurt by the contents of those emails, for many years to come, should those emails be published on the Internet, (which, unfortunately, they have been, many times, now). I did not forward these emails, (or even excerpts from them), to ANYONE. I engaged in private communications, as mentioned in the paragraph above, and "went fishing" on Cold Filter, with no response. The bottom line is: At least one leader (Jim Yount) of the American Cryonics Society (ACS), has been involved in some seriously questionable behavior directly-related to cryonics/ACS' activities, and the other leader (Edgar Swank) has publicly engaged in activities potentially damaging to the cryonics organizations he is associated with.

Most of the exchanges were what I consider to be cybersex between consenting adults, and are of no concern to me. There were some seriously disturbing accusations, regarding Cryogirl, her stepson, and a younger, autistic child. I won't go into the details, as I have been assured those activities have been reported to the proper authorities. Supposedly, other illegal activities, such as alleged software piracy engaged in by someone at ACS, have also been reported to the authorities.

The most damning information, related to cryonics, are the emails between Cryogirl and Jim Yount, of the American Cryonics Society (ACS). As I've already written, I couldn't care less what consenting adults do, when it comes to sex, but Mr. Yount crossed the line, when he paid Cryogirl funds from the coffers of a California non-profit organization. I'm quite sure he will claim to have been paying Cryogirl for some sort of marketing, in regard to the ACS money she received, and that the other funds he gave her were from his personal bank account, (in fact, Ben Best already provided this excuse, for Mr. Yount). My answer to that is, no reputable business, related to futuristic medical science, would have been found advertising on Cryogirl's MySpace page. (Note: Recent attempts to view Cryogirl's Myspace page, (which was, previously, easily accessible), resulted in warnings of security issues, so I have removed the link.)

The payments from ACS do not indicate they were for business-related services, but instead have labels such as "a spoonful of sugar." (I have screenshots of the actual PayPal transactions, if the State of California is interested). Judging by Cryogirl's MySpace page, or her Twitter page, (which has now been deleted, but was archived), I don't think anyone would believe marketing services from Cryogirl was a reasonable expenditure, for a non-profit organization. Her sites were not of the sort, on which companies said to be engaging in futuristic medical science-related research would advertise. More likely, Mr. Yount was interested in continuing his communications with Cryogirl, conversations that included discussions of the sexual activities of Cryogirl's 16-year-old sister, and nude photos of young women. While I think it's rather clear Mr. Yount was using money, and his position of power, at ACS, to influence Cryogirl's sexual communications, it's also quite clear that she was using him, and probably violating the conditions of the governmental support she receives, (allegedly for a psychological disability that the people taking advantage of her were said to have been aware of), by accepting money from him. (Our tax dollars at work.)

Cryogirl's husband claims Mr. Yount helped Cryogirl avoid questioning by the police, by funding her departure from her home state. A high-ranking person, in cryonics, admits he believes Mr. Yount provided Cryogirl the financial means for leaving her home, with the sole purpose of "shacking up with her for a few weeks." Cryogirl is an attractive young woman, and Mr. Yount is a man in his mid-to-late 60's, who, (judging from his emails), likes to engage in adolescent games, such as pretending to have an evil twin, who lives on Mars. (I don't know what the policy is on Mars, Mr. Yount, but here on Earth, we step down from positions of power, when we have embarrassed our entire professional community.)

ACS seems to serve no purpose, other than to pad the pockets and bolster the egos of two narcissistic old fools. They don't provide their own services, but act as a "middleman" for CI, adding to the cost of CI's services. It's time for the CI Board of Directors to take action, in severing ties with ACS. (No appeal, to Ben Best, as I am weary of his lame excuses.)

(Interestingly, "Cryogirl" can now be heard, on numerous Internet audiotapes, claiming she can "bring down" all of cryonics. She seems to be pretending to be some sort of super-spy, digging up dirt on the leaders of cryonics activities, yet some of them are said to still be funding her living quarters and expenses, in California, including a $1,300 a month apartment, (while she allegedly still collects social security income). This is what the decisions of people like Yount, Swank and Best have brought to the cryonics community. According to Cryogirl's husband, these men KNEW, through his warnings, that this young woman had psychological problems, yet they allowed her to cloud their judgment in running their organizations. The question is: "Is anyone going to do something about this, (other than try to "sweep it under the rug")???

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).

The Newest Cryonics Con Artist - EUCRIO's David Styles

There'a a new kid on the cryonics block..."Church of Satan" member, and "Temple of Vampire" member, David Styles. Oh, and he's not just a kid being brainwashed by those organizations; according to his MySpace page, he holds the position of "Warlock" in the Church of Satan, and the grade of "Adept" in the Temple of Vampires, (I'm told that is the highest possible rank). http://www.myspaceprofiles.org/profiles/109225812.html (Scroll down to the bottom of the linked page, to see some interesting photos of Styles.)

Do I really think David Styles is a devil-worshipper, or that he believes he's an immortal vampire? No...I think he's an attention-seeking scam artist, plain and simple.The only "scary" aspect of this news is the fact that he has been able to garner the support of people like Saul Kent, Catherine Baldwin, Ben Best, and other prominent members of cryonics organizations, who attended the launch of Style's European cryonics organization, "EUCRIO." According to a fairly reliable source, Kent and Best knew of Styles' cult-connections (pyramid schemes), prior to attending Style's launch of EUCRIO. (Is it just me, or do the "leaders" of cryonics activities seem to have more of an affinity for con artists and "yes men," than they do for reputable scientists and medical professionals?)

"!Jill" exposes Styles, here: http://www.cryonicsfactsheet.co.uk/ !Jill links Styles to the Cryonics Institute, but neglects to note Styles' obvious connections to the Life Extension Foundation (LEF)-funded company, Suspended Animation of Boynton Beach Florida, or Styles' alleged connections to Alcor and KrioRus, for which he claims to be offering transport services.

It's interesting that one of the photos posted on !Jill's site is of David Styles hanging out with Anton LeVay's son. It's interesting because Edgar Swank, of the American Cryonics Society (ACS), was also a member of the Church of Satan, and brags on his website, about hanging out with Anton LeVay. Best calls Style's new organization "Suspended Animation Inc.-like," and I have to agree with that...it appears to be a total sham. Styles claims to have medical professionals on his standby teams but, just like Suspended Animation, there's no real evidence of who his team members are, much less any evidence of them having medical qualifications. Where did Styles get that shiny new ambulance? Did Saul and Bill/LEF pay for that? Maybe, it was compensation for the publicity he got, for their "Teens and Twenties" meeting, by way of his much-discussed romps in the hot tub.

Do the people running cryonics organizations really want to put forth a scientific effort to cryopreserve someone in a viable condition, or are they just running a scam? They don't appear to be very successful, at running either of those things.

ARE ALCOR, CRYONICS INSTITUTE, KRIORUS AND THE LEF-FUNDED ORGANIZATIONS GOING TO ENDORSE, OR BE ASSOCIATED WITH, THIS PERSON WHO IS OBVIOUSLY JUST ANOTHER GREEDY OPPORTUNIST WITH NO MEDICAL EXPERIENCE, OR SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND, AND A LONG HISTORY OF BEING ASSOCIATED WITH WELL-KNOWN CULTS AND SCAMS????? Any organization NOT wanting to be associated with this con man should probably speak out, now.

Is it not logical that the people most likely to promote such a glaringly-obvious scam artist, are other scam artists??

Is anyone in a position of power, in any European country, paying attention to this mess???

More Lame Cryonics Excuses

A representative of Cryonics Institute (CI) writes to inform me that my suggestion CI "sever all ties with the American Cryonics Society (ACS), would result in CI having to put their 19 cryopreserved members of ACS "out in the warm." Good luck with that lame excuse.

Thanks to some territorial embalmers, and the attention the Ted Williams scandal brought to cryonics, the great State of Michigan has protected cryopreserved persons, by regulating CI as a cemetery. I don't care what kind of contract ACS has with CI, those 19 cryopreserved bodies aren't going anywhere.

The person who wants me to believe CI would have to defrost ACS's members, if they severed ties with ACS, must think I'm stupid. Does anyone really believe Swank and Yount would demand CI hand over those 19 people? Get real. Even if the State of Michigan would allow them to remove those persons, (and I don't think they would), where would Swank and Yount take them? Haven't Swank and Yount had enough negative attention?

The excuse about protecting those 19 cryopreserved bodies was just that...an excuse for protecting two seriously unethical cryonics "experts/leaders." Again...I think it is time for someone at CI to step up to the plate, and do the right thing...but I won't be holding my breath.

Ben Best, Cryogirl and The American Cryonics Society

Ben Best apparently felt the need to defend himself, on the Cold Filter cryonics forum, in regard to the "Cryogirl" scandal. What did he defend himself against? Having sexual Internet exchanges with someone? How many people haven't done that?! With that said, having read the emails, and visited "Cryogirl's" Twitter page and MySpace page, I kind of doubt Ben was being totally honest, about being primarily interested in her intelligence. (I'm not going to provide the link to the emails, which have now been posted on the Internet, but I don't see much intelligent discussion in any of them.)
(*Note that Cryogirl's MySpace page lists her occupation as "American Cryonics Society" and her location as "Cupertino, CA," which is the location of ACS, something I'll probably write more about, in a separate post.)

I've had the "Cryogirl" emails, since July, and it is my understanding Ben Best and the Board of Directors of CI has had them since February. I believe they held a meeting, in which they decided to look the other way, and hope the whole thing would blow over. That would have probably been a good idea, with the intention to follow that up with a thousand "No comments," if Ben's communications with Cryogirl were really the issue, but if you ask me, the REAL issue is CI's protection of the American Cryonics Society (ACS), which is led by Edgar Swank and Jim Yount. This is NOT just a silly sex scandal, it's about the seriously inappropriate, and possibly illegal, activities of two people connected with a California non-profit cryonics organization.

Ben claims not to have been aware of Cryogirl's communications with "the ACS people," (Swank and Yount), but he has been aware of those communications, since February, and he knows there was some serious misbehavior, on the part of Swank and Yount, yet he has done NOTHING to isolate CI from ACS. He writes about "when (Cryogirl) left her husband, apparently with help from ACS people." Cryogirl didn't just leave her husband, she was allegedly avoiding questioning by the police in her home state, regarding allegations of child molestation that her husband claims to have made against her, and I believe Ben knows that.

As for the people on the AntiCult site, or the UK Cryonics Factsheet site, questioning Ben's education, I have come to question that, myself. If he does have the education he claims, he's forgotten an awful lot of the basics. In the Curtis Henderson case, he altered the cryopreservative solutions and used them on Mr. Henderson, without testing them first, (something I don't believe any reputable chemist, or pharmacist, would think of doing), and the result was disastrous.

Ben writes: "Perfusion was then attempted with the milky 70% VM−1 solution, (his untested, modified solution), but the filter immediately became clogged. The milky color had been due to PEG that had come out of solution to form tiny particles that were too small to precipitate..."
I don't know where Ben went to school, but where I went to school, solids (particles) that form in solution, (no matter how tiny), ARE precipitates.

He goes on..."But the tiny particles were too large to pass through the filter. Fortunately, the particles clogged the 40 micron filter rather than plugging the capillaries of the patient."
That's nonsense. Ben is just pretending that what he didn't see didn't hurt Mr. Henderson. He doesn't have a clue as to how many particles, passed through that filter. The pore size of that filter is 40 microns, (nearly six times the size of a red blood cell). He's just attempting to reassure himself, and everyone else, that his REALLY INSANE decision to modify a solution, during a case, didn't cause any harm. http://www.cryonics.org/reports/CI95.html

Ben may very well have all the college degrees he takes credit for, but it's my experience in working with him, that he sometimes struggles with very simple concepts that anyone with degrees in physics and chemistry should intuitively grasp.

As for his income, about which he writes: "...the truth is that I made $30,050 last year, plus a medical and dental plan, but no pension." Does that include the fair market value of his living quarters, utilities, and other taxable benefits Ben receives from CI? Or the trips he took to Great Britain, Florida, Arizona and Japan? Ben's compensation isn't as measly as he makes it out to be.

As for Ben's self-described "monkhood," is that a requirement, for a leadership position at CI? Did anyone ask Ben Best to sacrifice having a personal life, in exchange for his position at CI? Maybe "normalcy" and "common sense" would be better requirements, as such traits would certainly assist in marketing cryonics.

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.

A Partial Review of Suspended Animation's Report for CI-95 (Mr. Curtis Henderson)

My apologies to the people I've been promising this to, for a very long time. I find Suspended Animation's case report to be heavily "padded" with unnecessary detail, which I probably won't ever waste my time commenting on, other than to say I think the unnecessary detail was designed to make SA look more professional, knowledgeable and capable, than they really are. These people do not know what they are doing. If they want to be a team of amateurs, simply "doing the best they can," to provide "something better than nothing," then they need to advertise themselves as such. On the other hand, if they want to publish reports filled with medical terminology, designed to deceive laymen into thinking they are capable of providing advanced medical procedures, and charge exhorbitant fees for those procedures, that is QUACKERY.

Considering the report was written, basically, for an audience of laymen, parts of it appear to be "misleading," at best. SA has a group of qualified perfusionists on retainer, so they certainly had at their disposal, people who were well-aware the "arterial" and "venous" temperatures reported were NOT patient temperatures, but perfusion circuit temperatures. SA's reporting of these temperatures, without explaining to the audience of laymen that those temperatures may be far-removed from the patient's core temperature seems, to me, to be intentional deception.

The black text, in italics, is excerpts from Suspended Animation's case report, for CI-95 (CurtisHenderson, June 2009, Albany, NY), the blue text is my comments. SA's full case report can be found, here: http://suspendedinc.com/cases/Stabilization%20and%20Transport%20Case%20Report%20CI95.pdf

...one of SA’s consulting physicians agreed that death was imminent and a standby team should deploy.
SA has more than one "consulting physician"? What are their names and are any of them skilled in vascular cannulations?

CI was notified of SA’s deployment plans and CI offered the services of its funeral director to make pre-arrangements with a local funeral home to support stabilization and transport efforts. SA accepted this offer of assistance...
It looks like CI's funeral director did a lot of SA's work, for them.

The contract perfusion coordinator was notified of the pending case and location and began arranging coverage. A contract surgeon was contacted and arranged to deploy with the team. Back-up team members were alerted.
Whom does "contract surgeon" refer to? A vascular surgeon? A veterinarian? Someone who works in medical research, but really doesn't know how to perform vascular cannulations? SA is said to have used one of their "contract surgeons," (someone who is not really a surgeon, at all), for another (Alcor) case, at about the same time as the Henderson case, and that person is said to have blundered the cannulation, cutting well into the abdomen, while trying to perform a femoral cannulation.

A vehicle was rented to accommodate stabilization

equipment and procedures en route to the funeral home.

Just out of curiosity...Was that vehicle a van, or maybe even a "box truck"? (When Larry Johnson mentioned the use of a "box truck," in his book, I believe Alcor's attorneys referred to his remarks as defamatory. Do Alcor's attorneys think the use of such a vehicle is something to be ashamed of?)

One SA staff member departed that afternoon and the contract perfusionist arrived in the evening.
Why did the staff member depart, and why doesn't SA have at least one perfusionist on staff?

The contract surgeon departed because of work obligations. A second contract surgeon was scheduled to arrive early Thursday afternoon. Another SA staff member arrived to replace the one who left.

Why are all these people coming, and going? With so much time on their hands, and so few cases, this is totally ridiculous. SA has SERIOUS PERSONNEL ISSUES, the main one being that, as far as anyone knows, NOT ONE of their full-time staff members is qualified to do a vascular cannulation, or to perform perfusion, (the key ingredients of the high-priced services they sell). To have a payroll and employee-related expenses in the high six figures, without so much as ONE staff member being qualified to perform the medical procedures a company is selling, is simply ludicrous.

Again, what were the qualifications of the "contract surgeon"?

The patient suffered cardiac arrest and was subsequently pronounced legally dead by the attending Hospitalist at 4:17am.
Note the time.

Over the next 20 minutes, the following medications were administered via IV push...
Who administered these medications? Was it legal for the Albany, NY hospital to allow cryonics personnel to do so? Was it legal for even hospital personnel to push meds, after death had been pronounced?

A nasopharyngeal probe and rectal probe with thermocouples were inserted and the patient’s Foley catheter assembly was removed.
Who inserted the nasopharyngeal probe, and was it properly positioned? (Throughout the case report, I wondered whether the probe was being influenced by room temperature and/or water from the ice bath.)

At that point the patient’s temperatures were approximately 30 C nasopharyngeal and 38 C rectal.
The nasopharyngeal temp is still warm, (about 86F). Rectal temp is quite warm (100.4F).

Team members continued to administer Tromethamine and Epinephrine IV push during transport.
Again, is it legal for laymen to administer medications to the deceased, in New York?

Nasopharyngeal temperature was 25C, rectal temperature was 36C. The sample analysis results are shown in the table below.
Approximately 90 minutes after pronouncement, CI-95's core temperature was still 36C, (normal being approximately 36.5 - 38), in spite of SA's efforts. Brain death occurs within minutes, at normal body temperature.

25.0ºC
pH 7.324
PCO2 mmHg 29.7
PO2 mmHg 6
Sample Type Ven
PtTemp 25.0 (77F - still pretty warm.) Did SA selectively report the coldest of the two temperatures they were recording?

CANNULATION
Arriving at the funeral home at 6:35am, the patient was moved from the vehicle into the facility’s small embalming room.
Note time is 6:35am, when SA arrives at mortuary.

The funeral director had not arrived at the facility. The Team Leader prepared the patient’s right groin for surgery by swabbing with ChloroPrep and draping with sterile towels. The approximate location of the femoral artery and vein was determined referencing the midpoint along the inguinal crease between the pubic symphysis and iliac crest."
This looks like someone reciting from a textbook, rather than someone who actually knows how to locate the femoral vessels, and perform a vascular cannulation...technical mumbo-jumbo, from people who are not qualified to attempt these procedures in real life.

Using a #10 scalpel blade an 8cm incision was made at this midpoint, just below the inguinal crease along the longitudinal axis of the leg. Blunt dissection and electro-cautery were used to clear a 3cm layer of heavy adipose tissue to expose the muscle. Additional blunt dissection clearing 2cm layer of muscle was made through heavy pooling of bright red blood from the surrounding tissues. Hemostasis with surgical sponges was ineffective. After 20 minutes of dissection the femoral capsule and vessels were not visible and a consulting physician was called.
More padding, and incompetence at its best. SA's personnel, who don't know what they are doing, are asking for advice on how to perform the surgical procedures they are selling...from someone over the telephone, no less.

He suggested additional adduction of the thigh.
You have a group of people, who don't seem to have a clue as to how to find the femoral blood vessels, (some of the largest blood vessels in the human body), and the physician they call tells them to move the leg toward the midline??? You've got to be kidding me. Greater femoral access is gained with ABDUCTION (the opposite of what was recommended to SA), and external rotation. Did Harris, (the physician who seems to know little about vascular cannulations and perfusion, as performed in conventional medicine), make this recommendation? (Anyone willing to take a bet that whoever made this recommendation will claim, "I said ABduction," or SA will claim it was a typo?)

An affiliated funeral director arrived and was able to direct movement of a muscle mass and identify the vessels before he also left.
This is crazy. A bunch of clueless people, attempting to perform surgical procedures, taking advice from someone over the telephone, when a funeral director, (who obviously doesn't want to have much of a hand in this mess), walks in and says something like "Try looking behind that muscle." Baldwin can recite all the textbook instructions she wants, and call herself a "backup surgeon" (when she's not a surgeon at all), but she did NOT know how to FIND the femorals, much less cannulate them properly.

The vessels were then isolated, separated and cannulated. The vein was 4-5mm in diameter, dark, thin walled, and fragile. Blood flowed freely from it during cannulation. It was ultimately cannulated with a 15 Fr venous cannula inserted approximately 22cm, after attempts to place larger 21 Fr and 19 Fr were unsuccessful. Nearly over the top of the vein, was the artery with multiple feeder vessels between the two. The artery was 6-7mm in diameter, light colored, rubbery and heavy walled.
Again, this looks like someone is writing from a textbook, and only a further demonstration of SA's extreme lack of competence.

Bright red blood flowed freely from it during cannulation. It was cannulated with a 17 Fr arterial cannula inserted approximately 12cm after attempts with a 19 Fr cannula were unsuccessful.
More incompetence.

The cannulae were connected to the extracorporeal bypass circuit on the Stockert SCPC minibypass system that had been primed with MHP2 organ preservation solution and cooled by the perfusionist. No venous drainage was observed.
The cannulation wasn't performed properly. The SA personnel didn't know how to perform their procedures, in spite of having had seven years, and probably close to seven million dollars, to prepare, for this case. This is QUACKERY at its best.

No bubbles or air locks were visible in the circuit.The perfusionist applied mild suction and the AutoPulse was re-started to assist with drainage. Still, no venous return could be seen. The venous cannula was slowly backed out while applying suction and automated chest compressions but no return was visible. Nasopharyngeal temperature was 15C and rectal was 25.6C.
At a core temp of 25.6 (abt 78F), a safe circulatory arrest time is somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 - 30 minutes. How many hours did SA have Mr. H. at 25.6 and above? Even at 18C, standard perfusion guidelines call for no longer than 60 minutes of arrest time.

A call was made to CI to determine additional site options for cannulation. A jugular cannulation would not interfere with cryoprotection procedures. The patient’s head was repositioned to the contralateral side and the neck swabbed and prepped for external jugular vein cutdown. The AutoPulse was started to aid location of jugular vein. Pressure to the platysma muscle did not create any obvious jugular pooling. Identification of the external jugular was then made using the mid-point between the angle of the mandible and the top of the clavicle.
Suspended Animation's manager and pseudo-surgeon, Catherine Baldwin, butchered Mr. Curtis Henderson, making at least three incisions, unable to perform a vascular cannulation. More textbook recitations from people who don't know what they are doing.

Using a number 10 scalpel blade, a 3cm incision was made and blunt dissection used to clear the tissue. The jugular was not immediately visible. A call was made to the funeral director about shipping options and additional surgical assistance.
People who require instruction, for surgical procedures, (via telephone, no less!), have no business performing these procedures, much less calling themselves "surgeons."

Flight options to accommodate human remains cargo at this time would be limited to Newark Airport.
I've been told at least two booked flights were missed, while hours passed, and this report indicates Mr. Henderson was at rather tepid temperatures, for much of this time.

An affiliated funeral director would be available to come to the facility in thirty minutes. Additional ice was packed onto the patient. The Ziegler case was delivered by van at 11am.
Note time: They've been at the mortuary for three-and-a-half hours, and they haven't performed a procedure that should take minutes.

A funeral director affiliated with the funeral home arrived and offered to quickly cannulate the femoral vein on the patient’s left side. Opening an 8 cm incision and using an aneurism hook for dissection, his field quickly filled with bright red blood. He located the femorals but in separating them, he accidentally cut the artery and multiple feeders between the artery and vein. These vessels were individually ligated and the wound packed while the funeral director enlarged the jugular incision that had been opened earlier and isolated the jugular. A 17Fr venous cannula was inserted into the jugular vein approximately 30cm and connected to the venous perfusion line. Mild suction was applied. Venous drainage was observed.
At last, some success. A funeral director, (someone who is probably not accustomed to performing vascular cannulations with the same degree of care as a vascular surgeon), appears to have managed to do, in a short period of time, what Baldwin/SA had not been able to accomplish in many hours.

WASHOUT AND PERFUSION
Washout started at 12:11pm. Nasopharyngeal temperature was 11.8C and rectal temp was 23.6C. (74.5F)
After a short period of perfusion, a tourniquet was applied above the left leg wound to minimize leakage of perfusate from this area. To conserve additional perfusate, a second tourniquet was applied with light compression on the tissue around the arterial cannula on the right leg.
No one there knew how to perform a good cannulation, one of the key ingredients of doing a cryonics washout procedure.

Twenty minutes after washout was initiated, arterial temperature was 4.6C and venous temperature was 13.3C
When addressing an audience of laymen, it is DECEPTIVE to write " the arterial temperature was 4.6C and venous temperature was 13.3C." These temperatures are perfusion circuit temperatures and DO NOT reflect patient temperatures. What they are calling an "arterial temperature" is the temperature coming out of the heat exchanger in the perfusion circuit, and what they are calling the "venous temperature," is the venous line of the perfusion circuit.

Let's say I have a patient in heart surgery, with a normal body temp. I hook him up to a perfusion circuit. His blood drains into the perfusion circuit, passes through the heat exchanger, and in a relatively short period of time, I am able to return that blood to him, at a temp of 4.6C, and the blood coming back to the perfusion circuit is 13.3C. I could accomplish that, in a very short time, but guess what? The patient may still be quite warm. If I were to turn off my heat exchanger, as soon as I saw a perfusion circuit venous return line temp of 13.3C, the patient would rewarm the blood in my circuit, and those temps would rapidly rise. CI-95's core temperate WAS NOWHERE NEAR THOSE TEMPERATURES.

Think of it this way. You have a hose, running through a bathtub filled with water at 37C. You start flowing cold water into the hose, and pretty soon the water coming out the other end is also cold, but the water in the tub is still warm. This is a very simplistic example, but I'm sure intelligent readers understand that someone could flow extremely cold fluid through a person's circulatory system, for a very short period of time, while most of their body tissues would remain warm. Again, SA is being deceptive in reporting these "arterial" and "venous" temps. These were NOT Mr. Henderson's arterial and venous temps, but those of a perfusion circuit.

After 23 minutes on washout, about 14 of 28L of MHP2 had been used and the circuit was closed for cooling recirculation. The remaining perfusate was added slowly during recirculation to maintain circuit volume. After an additional 20 minutes on closed circuit, arterial temperature was 1.7C and venous was 9.5C.
GROSSLY MISLEADING. Again, these are perfusion circuit temperatures, not patient temperatures. The patient was, most likely, significantly warmer than either of these temperatures.

Perfusion was stopped about five minutes later when the last of the perfusate had been used. There was no longer visible edema in the patient’s upper or lower limbs. There was no visible change in abdominal distension. Arterial temperature was 1.7C and venous temperature was 8.5C. Nasopharyngeal temperature was 8.7C and rectal temperature was 17.5C. The patient’s cooling curve is shown below.
The rectal temp of 17.5C reflects the core temp of the patient. The guidelines for a safe period of circulatory arrest, (one which is unlikely to result in neurological damage), at this temperature, is 45-60 minutes. SA should have continued cooling until ALL the temperatures were as close to 0-degrees C, before ending the perfusion process and transporting. Instead, they took Mr. Henderson on a long car ride, at temperatures known not to sustain cerebral function for an extended period of time.

The patient was disconnected from the extracorporeal bypass circuit with the cannualae clamped and left in place.
Question for CI: Is this correct. Wasn't one cannula missing?

That's enough, for now. There's more to be added, later, but I can't resist skipping ahead to remark (again) on this:

ISSUES IDENTIFIED
DEPLOYMENT AND LOGISTICS
• Arrangements for airline cargo movement of the kits were made the evening before deployment. When the team arrived at the air cargo office at 5am, the agent would not accept the kits because they did not have SA’s federal shipper number, account number and had no air bill for the kit, with these numbers included.
Why would anyone expect people who are not capable of shipping packages to be able to perform surgical procedures and perfusion? For SA to have overnight to prepare, and then show up at the airport, without everything they needed to get their equipment transported is far-beyond incompetent. At the time of this case, they had had seven years, and had probably spent in excess of seven million dollars, to prepare, yet they hadn't even managed to become proficient in transporting their equipment? That's the most simple part of the services they are said to be providing!

Attempting to check the kits as luggage, Continental Airlines would not accept two of the Pelican cases containing the ATP and the MHP2 perfusate because they exceeded maximum allowable weight limits.Two team members stayed behind to make shipping arrangements for the remaining kits, while three team members flew on to Albany. Two team members were delayed by 4 hours and critical kits were delayed by 12 hours.
These people don't have enough sense to get luggage on a plane, much less preserve a brain in a condition that will be viable in the future. http://cryomedical.blogspot.com/2010/09/cryonics-event-in-uk-no-brainer.html