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Interesting Events on Cold Filter Cryonics Forum

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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Alcor Membership Dues (Passive Resistance)

Why would anyone pay dues to Alcor? They've proven, time-and-time-again, there's really no need to. Just throw a grease-stained note in your trunk, and find a relative to promise payment to Alcor in the event of your demise. Alcor will rush right over, to pick you up in a private jet. (Or does that only work for legendary baseball heroes?) Did Ted Williams ever pay membership dues? Not that I know of, so why should anyone else?

How about Mary Robbins? Was she paying Alcor membership dues, just prior to her death? Her family claimed she had changed her mind, about cryopreservation. Wouldn't knowledge, regarding whether she had been paying her Alcor dues, or not, have been evidence of her continued interest, (or lack, thereof)? Alcor successfully argued, in a court of law, that Ms. Robbins' contract was required to be revoked in writing, which it had not been. So, Alcor was able to collect their "anatomical gift," even though they, subsequently, elected not to pursue the collection of the cryopreservation fee. Interesting! Ms. Robbins may have been paying her dues, but she didn't pay for her cryopreservation. Fancy that! Why should anyone pay Alcor, for anything, since they are so willing to give away their services? What other companies, (if any), operating under the UAGA, requires people to pay for "donating" an anatomical "gift," anyway? That's bizarre.


I'm not a lawyer, but isn't it true that a party cannot use an argument to win a legal decision, and then use the same argument to win a contradictory decision, in another court? (I think there's a name for this...I just can't think of it, at the moment.) In other words, Alcor won the battle over the possession of Ms. Robbins' "anatomical gift," by proving she had not revoked her gift, in writing. So, I'm wondering, if someone else, (or everyone else, for that matter), who has made arrangements for an Alcor cryopreservation, was to quit paying their membership dues, how successful would Alcor be at arguing that they were not obligated to perform a cryopreservation, because a person had failed to pay their membership dues? Maybe Alcor can cancel their contracts, in writing. Would they? If they have John Doe signed up for a $150,000 procedure, and he doesn't pay his "$478 annually or $120 quarterly," do they cancel his contract, in writing? It's a fascinating question, isn't it?

"Transparency" is a word you hear, a lot, in cryonics. How transparent is it, to fly across the country to pick up a celebrity, who has never paid a penny in membership dues, or bothered to fill out Alcor's paperwork? Pretty darn transparent, if you ask me. How transparent is it, to accept other last-minute cases, performing procedures for people who have never paid membership dues? Crystal clear, again, in my opinion. So, I ask, "Why should ANYONE pay Alcor's membership dues?"

Of course, the REAL question is, "Why should anyone pay Alcor for their pseudo-medical procedures, at all?" For $150,000, you might get something like a dialysis tech playing vascular-/neuro- surgeon, and something like this: http://cryomedical.blogspot.com/2009/10/review-of-alleged-ted-williams-case.html By the way, how much did they make Ted Williams' family pay? According to several accounts, they accidentally cut off his head, making him a "neuro" case, even though his son had signed him up for the "whole body" procedure, which costs nearly double the price of a "neuro." (Current Alcor prices are $80K for a "neuro," and $150K for a "whole body.")

Alcor has been around for approximately 40 years, and it looks, to me, like they charge some really high fees, while not promising anyone with even a high school diploma, much less any sort of medical credentials, will show up to attempt to preserve their members' brains. Their Chief Medical Advisor has proven over, and over, and over, again, he doesn't have a complete understanding of vascular cannulations and perfusion, (the medical procedures required to deliver preservative solutions to all the cells of the body). What a joke.

I think it's time for Alcor to improve their services, and thinking along those lines, maybe it's time for some "passive resistance." After all, "money talks," so maybe there are Alcor members out there, willing to let their membership dues speak to Alcor's directors. OH...and if you get some polite request, from Alcor, asking you to sign documents, revoking your cryopreservation contract...well, I suggest you make note of the Williams' and Robbins' cases, and other "last-minute-not-really-signed-up-for-Alcor's services" cases, and consult with your attorney.

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American Society of Extracorporeal Technology (Perfusion) Code of Ethics

From AmSECT's website:
http://www.amsect.org/sections/practice/index.html

"CODE OF ETHICS

Preamble

The purpose of a code of ethics is to acknowledge a profession's acceptance of the responsibility and trust conferred upon it by society and to recognize the internal obligations inherent in that trust...

...Canon 1

Members must uphold the dignity and honor of the profession, accept its disciplines and expose without hesitation illegal, unethical and incompetent conduct.

Interpretive Statements...

...b.The member has a personal, as well as a professional, obligation to protect and safeguard the patients from illegal and/or unethical actions or the incompetence of any person...

...Canon 3

Members shall provide only those services for which they are qualified. Members shall not misrepresent in any manner, either directly or indirectly, their skills, training, professional credentials, identity or services." (Are you paying attention, cryonics "surgeons" and "perfusionists" and other "medical personnel" or "patient care providers"? I know, I know, your "patients" are dead, but still...)

"Interpretive Statements

a.Members will accept responsibility for the exercise of sound judgment in the delivery of services to the patient and shall be accountable for the quality of the service provided.

b.Members will provide accurate information about the profession, and services they provide, as well as the members' own qualifications.

c.The members shall not engage in practices beyond their competence or training...

...Canon 5

Members shall maintain and promote high standards for...education, research and scientific presentations and/or publications..."

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Sentence Structure (Unfinished Business from Recent Cold Filter Discussions)

If A, publicly, says to B: "Didn't you do X, when you told us Y happened?" A is implying B previously stated Y actually did happen.
If Platt calls Alcor and asks people to look in Johnson's file, for an NDA, (as he is said to have done), he's implying there actually was one, (when it's extremely doubtful one ever existed).
When Platt called Suspended Animation and asked someone to look in my file for an NDA, (as he is said to have done), he was implying one actually existed, (when no such document ever existed).
When Harris, (who was working with Platt at the time), writes the false statement that my SA file was kept in my office (it wasn't), and my (non-existent) NDA disappeared along with me, when I resigned, it's clear where he's getting his false information from, since Platt worked with me, at SA.
When Platt publicly responds to something I wrote with, "Didn't you express contrition, when you told us that your therapist suggested it would be a good idea to let go of your anger?" he is implying I stated a therapist told me to let go of my anger (when nothing remotely close to that has ever happened, so I certainly made no such statement).
The moral of the story is: "Sometimes people who have a habit of lying spew forth their garbage in the form of questions."
Or, maybe: "Beware of questions from a cryonicist, well-known for producing fiction."


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More Misinformation from Alcor’s Chief Medical Advisor

Alcor Life Extension Foundation, of Scottsdale, Arizona, and Suspended Animation, of Boynton Beach, Florida, charge a bundle for procedures based on vascular cannulations and perfusion technology. These are common procedures, in conventional medicine, and anyone qualified to perform those procedures could perform the procedures being offered by Alcor and SA. Laymen attempting to perform these procedures is most likely to result in tissue/structural damage. In spite of those facts, Alcor and SA seem to think it's acceptable to have laymen performing these procedures, and other procedures usually only performed by advanced-level paramedics. They charge $60,000 to $150,000 for their services, never promising skilled personnel will perform the surgical procedures.

The cannulations required for cryonics procedures are identical to those carried out in conventional medicine, and the perfusion procedures have very little variation from those carried out in conventional medicine. Given that the sole purpose of Alcor and SA's surgical teams is to provide vascular cannulations and perfusion, and given the amount of money being poured into these organizations, shouldn't they be delivering qualified personnel to perform those procedures? Why are (often highly-paid) laymen most often performing these procedures? Is it because no one working in cryonics knows any better?

My last post was about Steve Harris MD, (head of Critical Care Research, Alcor Life Extension Foundation's Chief Medical Advisor, Director of Suspended Animation, Advisor to Cryonics Institute), displaying a lack of knowledge, regarding the application of femoral cannulations, in conventional medicine. Harris had disagreed with me, regarding the femoral cannulations being identical to those carried out, in conventional medicine, stating those in conventional medicine are carried out on patients "with good blood pressure," and "anatomy resembling a textbook diagram." He couldn't have been more wrong. (See previous blog entry.)

In response to his error, I described a perfusion procedure, (a form of CPS/cardiopulmonary support), which involves femorally cannulating and perfusing a patient, in an emergency situation, (usually in order to transport them to an operating room, or cath lab). This is a relatively simple procedure that involves a single perfusion pump on a cart, and can be carried out in ANY hospital offering open-heart surgery. In response to my correction, Harris did a lot of research and came back with information regarding a totally different perfusion procedure, (ECMO/ECLS), which is offered only in a limited number of facilities.

Harris' post was fundamentally flawed, in that the underlying argument is that vascular cannulations and perfusion are quite common, and thousands of people are qualified to competently deliver these procedures. No one in cryonics is discussing ECMO (a prolonged perfusion procedure most often used to address neonatal respiratory distress), so his asking me for statistics regarding those procedures was pointless. It's obvious he did not recognize the CPS procedure I described, when he came back with information about ECLS, (a term used synonomously with ECMO).
http://www.mch.com/page/EN/2052/Extra-Corporeal-Membrane-Oxygenation/What-is-ECMO?.aspx

It's pretty clear one of cryonics' most prominent medical advisors has limited knowledge, regarding vascular cannulations and perfusion, (the key ingredients of cryonics procedures), as performed in conventional medicine. Which should be no surprise, since I believe his specialty, prior to being involved in cryonics, was geriatrics.

Maybe Suspended Animation and/or Alcor should ask one of the qualified perfusionists they claim to be using, to have these debates with me. Of course, that person should be willing to sign their name, and take those discussions to the perfusion forums, where people who actually understand these procedures can be asked to evaluate the situation, in cryonics.

Keep in mind that people who sign up for Alcor's and SA's services are also encouraged to leave bequests and trusts, to cryonics organizations, on top of the extremely high fees. These people are screaming "REGULATION NEEDED."

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Alcor’s Chief Medical Advisor Displays Lack of Knowledge, Regarding Vascular Cannulations

In a recent Cryonet post, Steve Harris MD responded to my remarks regarding femoral cannulation, with this:


Harris: "Cannulation in medicine for femoral bypass is done on patients with a good blood pressure, and this is true even if the patient is intended to be cooled later. That means the arteries are pulsatile and pinkish white, the veins properly blue and fat with pressure, and everything looks like an anatomy diagram."
http://cryonet.org/cgi-bin/dsp.cgi?msg=32685)

I repeated what Harris wrote, to my husband, (who has no medical experience), and he said, "That makes sense." I responded, "Yes, to someone who doesn't know much about cardiovascular surgery and perfusion, it does." That's what really bugs me, about Harris and some of his buddies. They SEEM like they know what they are talking about, even when they don't, and I'm sure they are very convincing, to laymen. Harris has posted a lot of inaccurate information, in response to my criticisms of Suspended Animation. I used to think he was being dishonest, now I'm beginning to wonder if he simply doesn't know what he is talking about, when he makes these mistakes.

The truth is, cardiovascular patients with good blood pressure are almost always cannulated via the right atrium and aorta, NOT femorally. Femoral cannulations are usually reserved for urgent cases (such as patients undergoing cardiac arrest, who have little-to-no pressure), or other special cases (such as "re-do's"). Many times, I've seen patients who were brought to the cath lab already in cardiac arrest, (on occasion, with someone straddling them in the gurney, performing CPR), or patients who suffered cardiac arrest while undergoing procedures in the cath lab. I've witnessed these patients undergo emergency femoral cannulation, so they could be placed on a CPS device, (a portable perfusion circuit). The professionals who performed those cannulations, (on patients with little-to-no blood pressure), performed them skillfully and within minutes. So, why would Harris paint that rosy little image of surgeons in conventional medicine settings having the ideal conditions, when performing femoral cannulations, when the reality is that femoral cannulations are frequently performed under very stressful, and less-than-ideal circumstances? In cryonics, the person being cannulated is already dead, (presumably, with DNR orders, in place), but in conventional medicine, a surgeon performing a femoral cannulation may have the life of someone who has already "coded," (and who has not expressed a willingness to leave this lifetime), in his hands. Harris seems to want to make the conventional medicine scenario out to be a walk in the park. Is he misrepresenting the situation, on purpose, or is he really that ignorant, in regard to cannulations performed in conventional medicine?

Harris went on, to write:

"In cryonics, femoral cannulations are considerably more difficult...In such circumstances it's surprisingly hard to tell veins from arteries. I think most surgeons would be shocked, but I doubt that many vascular surgeons have ever tried it..."

I

 don't mean to be rude, truly I don't, but when I read nonsense like that, I really have to wonder about Harris' knowledge and/or integrity. Is his argument that, because femoral cannulations on patients with no blood pressure are "considerably more difficult," they should be performed by laymen who have received minimal training on pigs and/or dogs, (and maybe a few cryonics cases, spread out over a period of years), rather than by competent medical professionals skilled in performing vascular cannulations? Seriously, is that his position? That's absolutely ludicrous. Harris may have trouble telling veins from arteries, but most vascular surgeons, (and other professionals, who may assist them, such as physician ssistants), would not, even under the worst of circumstances. Most, if not all, vascular surgeons will have had cadaver experience, (including the dissection of arteries and veins), in med school, and cardiovascular surgeons will have many experiences cannulating patients with little-to-no blood pressure, over the course of their careers.

This is only one, of the MANY times, Steve Harris MD (Chief Medical Advisor of Alcor Life Extension Foundation, Director of Suspended Animation and Advisor to Cryonics Institute), has published inaccurate information. Below, are a handful of examples of past misinformation, posted by Harris:

As some of you might recall, Harris once wrote a post in which he insisted cardiac surgeons were being paid $50,000, per case, (and, no, it was not a typo). Having been a member of a cost-containment committee at one of the hospitals where I used to work, I knew that was grossly inaccurate. When I responded that a cardiac surgeon would be lucky to make ten percent of that figure, Harris responded by calling me names. He said I was a "nit and a naif," if I did not believe cardiac surgeons made $50,000, per case. Of course, at some point, he had to admit he was wrong.

He defended allowing laymen to have access to propofol, indicating it was justified, because the 200mg dose being prescribed would "keep people dead." As I've already stated, dozens of times, 200mg of propofol isn't enough to keep an average-sized person unconscious for more than a few minutes, much less dead. The propofol protocol just didn't make sense, (I mean, why risk people accusing cryonics organizations of dirty deeds, again, over a dose not large enough to achieve the stated goal?), but Harris defended it, and then turned it into something much worse.


Once, he posted a slew of blatant lies, about me, which he had heard from someone he was working with. He didn't even bother to say, "I heard...," or "Someone told me...," he made very specific, false statements, as though they were fact. The person who provided him with the lies publicly corrected them, and apologized, (on the advice of an attorney).

In his book, "Mother Melters" former Riverside County Coroner's Investigator, Alan Kunzman, claims Harris signed multiple copies of a death certificate, which contained false information. Kunzman says Harris' defense was that he didn't read the documents, he just signed them because someone associated with Alcor asked him to. Does Steve Harris simply do everything the people who pay him ask him to, without question? Is that why he is a "prominent person" in cryonics?

A little competence, integrity and professionalism might go a long way, in changing the public's perception of cryonics.
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