Instructions for Completing the CryoCare Membership Documents
IMPORTANT NOTE:
CryoCare's legal signup documents are provided online for
informational purposes only.
For security reasons, and because of the possibility of text
being corrupted in transmission, we prefer you *not to sign*
any documents that you receive from us electronically. If you
are interested in becoming a CryoCare member, we will be
delighted to mail you our documents as hardcopy, ready for
your signature.
The instructions below can be read in conjunction with our
documents to explain their function and purpose. But once
again, please do not actually fill out and sign any forms
that you obtain via the Internet.
Thank you!
--Charles Platt, Vice President, CryoCare Foundation
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Instructions for Completing the CryoCare Membership Documents
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(for further information call 1-800-TOP-CARE)
"Why are there so many forms?"
The main purpose of the paperwork that we've sent you is
Purpose to protect you if you become a patient in our care. In the
of the past, cryonics has come under attack from bureaucrats and
paperwork regulators. Also, relatives of cryonics patients have
attempted to prevent cryopreservation from taking place, or
they've tried to seize funds which had been allocated for
future care of cryonics patients.
Frozen patients are unable to protect themselves. They
don't even have any rights under the law. Therefore, we have
to be extremely careful about defending them from any
conceivable challenge. Detailed legal documents are the only
way this can be done.
"Why are there three copies of everything?"
You need one copy, CryoCare needs a copy, and the third
copy is needed by the service provider whom we hire to carry
out cryopreservation procedures.
"I have a hard time dealing with these forms."
Making arrangements with a cryonics organization is no
Coping fun at all. It forces you to think about your own mortality.
with Some people have found this so difficult, they have put off
mortality signing their documents for months or even years.
Remember, though: the intention of cryonics is to save
your life. Even if cryonics offers only a chance of success,
that's still a whole lot better than the oblivion which is
absolutely guaranteed if you put off making arrangements and
allow yourself to die conventionally.
We will be glad to help you cope with the psychological
implications of this paperwork. On the plus side, many people
have told us that after they finally get through the sign-up
process, they feel a new peace of mind that they never
experienced before. It can be a source of comfort to face up
to mortality and actually do something about it.
At the same time, though, we are not suggesting that you
put unreasoning faith in cryonics. This is an unproven,
speculative procedure, and you'll find that in these forms,
we've been painfully honest about its limitations. We have to
be honest in this way; otherwise, we would not deserve your
trust.
Definitions "How do I begin?"
of cryonics Let's start with a quick summary of the basics. You'll
terminology probably known some of these terms already, but others are new
and specific to CryoCare.
Cryonics means preserving a person after legal death in
such a way that the tissues and neural states are relatively
undamaged, so that there is some chance for life to resume in
the future.
Cryopreservation is the proper term for preservation of
tissues at low temperatures. "Human cryopreservation" means
the same thing as "cryonic suspension," but we prefer to avoid
talking about cryonic suspension because that phrase has never
been accepted or understood by the medical community.
A cryoprotectant is a chemical such as glycerol which
partially replaces water in cells and reduces the damage that
can be caused when cells are frozen.
Cryoprotective perfusion means introducing a
cryoprotectant into a person's circulatory system, so that it
seeps into all the vulnerable tissues, especially in the
brain.
A cryopreservation member of CryoCare is someone who has
completed all the paperwork and has been formally accepted by
CryoCare.
A patient (as far as we're concerned) is a member who has
been placed in cryopreservation.
Long-term care means the continued maintenance of a
patient in cryopreservation until a time when there is some
hope of resuscitation.
A Patient Director is a director of CryoCare whose
primary concern is the welfare of the patients. CryoCare also
has Member Directors, who are concerned with everyday matters
of running the organization. There are some issues, such as
the safety of patients, which Member Directors are not allowed
to vote on.
A Patient Advocate is a person or group of people acting
on behalf of a patient. Each member of CryoCare is encouraged
to set up a Patient Advocate to protect his/her interests
after legal death.
How to tackle your paperwork
We suggest that first of all, you should read through the
documents to familiarize yourself with them. Keep this booklet
close by, and examine the forms in the sequence described
below. These instructions should answer most of the questions
that may come to mind, although you should bear in mind that
this booklet does not constitute legal advice, and is just an
informal guide. If you have any unresolved questions, please
don't hesitate to call us for information.
After you've read the forms, it's time to think about
Signing signing them. Several of them must be signed in the presence
your of witnesses, so do not sign until your witnesses are actually
documents observing the event. This is not a formality; it's very
important.
After the forms have been signed, send all copies of them
to us. If all your arrangements are in order, we will
countersign the agreements and return one set of forms to you,
at which point CryoCare has formally accepted the
responsibility of your membership.
Okay, let's begin with:
Application for Cryopreservation
This form is intended as a central storage place for all
the most important facts about you. The information will be
The need vital to us, and to you, if you experience an emergency. Here
for are some notes on the sections that may not seem self
personal explanatory:
details Section II. We request these details about your spouse,
children, parents, and siblings because in a health crisis,
you may be unable to notify your relatives, and we will need
to do it for you. Also, if relatives become involved in
decisions about your health care, it's helpful to us to know
who they are.
Section III. We need to know about your doctor and the
hospital (s)he's affiliated with, because their cooperation
may be vital for you to receive prompt, effective
cryopreservation.
In Section III, part 1, we ask if your physician or HMO
will be cooperative. Give us just a rough idea, if you can.
The We also ask you about the Physician's Affidavit. This is
Physician's an optional form that we can supply, asking your doctor not to
Affidavit interfere with your cryopreservation. In our experience, most
physicians will not want to sign this document. Don't bother
to ask us for it unless your doctor seems very open-minded
about cryonics.
Section IV. We need these legal details because in the
event of your death, some people may dispute your desire for
cryopreservation.
Our policy Section VI. We have limited resources, and our number-one
re your obligation is to conserve our funds so that CryoCare remains
financial strong and can properly protect the patients who are already
arrangements frozen. Therefore, we can only cryopreserve people who have
made proper arrangements to pay for the procedure. We will
verify your arrangements before we can authorize your
cryopreservation. Naturally, we want the verification process
to be as quick as possible, which is why we need all the
details in this section.
Note that this form does not need to be witnessed or
notarized. Sign at the bottom of the last page, and that's it.
If there are any sections which you can't fill in, leave them
blank and include a note of explanation. If anything happens
to change or invalidate the information you have provided,
please let us know.
The next form we'll tackle is the Cryopreservation
Agreement. But before we deal with this, we have to settle
some details in an "attachment" to it. If you turn the pages,
sooner or later you should find:
Decisions Concerning the Member's Cryopreservation
The process of completing this form will clarify a lot of
points about cryonics in general and CryoCare in particular.
Our 1. Selection of Service Providers. CryoCare does not
cryonics freeze people. It employs other, specialized providers to
service carry out the procedures of cryopreservation, long-term care,
providers and the investment of cryopreservation fees. Eventually, there
should be many service providers, and we will encourage our
members to choose freely among them. Currently, however, we
only have contracts with BioPreservation for cryopreservation
services and CryoSpan for long-term care, and the names of
these companies have been inserted in this form. When there
are more companies to choose from, we'll give you the option
of changing your selection.
2. Method of Cryopreservation. Some people feel that when
medicine is sufficiently advanced to repair cells and revive
cryonics patients, it should be relatively easy to "grow" a
new body. If this turns out to be true, you only need to
preserve your brain right now, to keep your personality and
memories intact.
Advantages This option is known as neuropreservation. Since it
of neuro- enables significantly lower storage costs, the
preservation cryopreservation fee is much lower (see Schedule A, Annual
over Membership Fees and Fees for Cryopreservation, for current
whole-body rates.)
The neuropreservation option also allows a faster cooling
rate (which may help to minimize freezing damage) and easier
transportability (which could be a safety factor if it is ever
necessary for patients to be moved in a hurry--for instance,
if there is civil unrest endangering our patients).
Your decision regarding the method of cryopreservation is
an important one, and we urge you to contact us if you have
questions about it.
3. Disposal of Non-Cryopreserved Portion of Human
Remains. If you have selected the "neuro" option, the rest of
your body will not be frozen and must be dealt with
conventionally. CryoCare has access to facilities for
cremation, but if you require burial, you must make
arrangements for your remains to be claimed by your next of
kin.
Even if you have opted for whole-body cryopreservation,
it is conceivable that at some time in the future, you may
need to be converted to neuro status. (Circumstances which
might make this necessary are described later in these
instructions.) Therefore, everyone needs to deal with this
section of the form.
Please note that if you opt for neuropreservation, it
will not be possible to donate your organs for transplant or
research, because cryoprotective perfusion renders the organs
unsuitable.
4. Criteria for Cryopreservation. We can't predict the
Situations capabilities of future science. Possibly, nanotechnology will
where you enable substantial repair in cases where the brain has been
may not want harmed. This being so, you may want us to proceed with your
us to act cryopreservation even in cases of severe brain damage.
It may be possible, some time in the future, for science
to clone an exact copy of you from a small tissue sample taken
from any part of your body. In this case, your clone will not
possess any of your memories. Some people feel that this is
not worthwhile, but to others, it provides some comfort.
Decide for yourself, and if there are circumstances under
which you don't want us to cryopreserve you, state them
clearly in the space provided.
Please note that accidental death almost always results
in an autopsy, which typically results in a long period of
warm ischemia (harmful lack of blood flow) followed by
dissection of the brain. You may not want us to cryopreserve
you if this occurs. Please let us know.
Situations 5. Cryopreservation Not Possible. Our cryopreservation
where we service providers will do everything humanly possible to
cannot act fulfill their contractual and moral obligations, but there may
be factors beyond anyone's control. For example, in the past,
there have been cases where obstructive officials, medical
personnel, or coroners have made it impossible for us to
proceed. If something like this happens, what should we do
with your cryopreservation fee?
Public Disclosure. If you require us not to divulge your
name, we will scrupulously respect your wishes. Before making
Privacy this choice, however, you should bear in mind that cryonics
vs. will become safer and more reliable when more people start to
publicity take it seriously, and we can help to achieve this by
publicizing our work. A case of cryopreservation always seems
more compelling and more human if we can tell the world some
facts about the patient. In a sense, then, it may be
ultimately in your own interests to allow us to mention your
name and other details.
Paying 7. Required Cryopreservation Funding Minimums.
for our Your cryopreservation fee is the sum which we believe
services will pay for the procedure of your cryopreservation and the
ongoing costs of long-term care. Often (not always), a member
will arrange for this fee to be paid upon legal death by
naming CryoCare as beneficiary of a life insurance policy.
This means that CryoCare receives the "face value," or payout,
of the policy. The advantage of this setup is that it is
reliable and secure. By contrast, a bequest in a will can be
challenged easily, and legal fees can eat into the bequest
itself. For this reason, CryoCare will not normally allow
members to make provision for their cryopreservation fee via a
Bequests bequest.
Minimum funding is the amount which we think is
absolutely necessary. From this fee, we pay your
cryopreservation costs and our own one-time administration
fee. We then place all the remaining money in an individual
account for you in The Patient Care Trust, where it will be
invested as safely as possible by experienced money managers.
Interest which is earned by the investments will be sufficient
to pay for your long-term care, assuming that the rate of
interest will be at least two percent greater than the rate of
inflation.
8. Administration and Readiness Fees. Our service
providers have to maintain equipment in a state of readiness.
CryoCare itself has overheads which must be paid. This is why
we charge you an annual fee.
Additional 10. Choices for Funding Over the Minimum. We encourage
insurance you to make arrangements for CryoCare to receive more than
minimum funding, if possible, so that extra money can be set
aside under your name in The Patient Care Trust as a safeguard
against emergencies and to pay for your eventual
resuscitation. Alternatively, you can direct that some of the
money should be used for other purposes, as described in this
section.
That's it for the decision-making process. Later, we'll
ask you to think about setting up a Patient Advocate, but you
can take some extra time over that. It does not have to be
done before you can become a member of CryoCare.
It's now time to tackle the main course in this feast of
paperwork:
Cryopreservation Agreement
This document describes what we will do for you and what
we expect from you in return. Now that you've filled out the
previous form, a lot of this one should make sense.
Note that the legal use of the words "should" and "shall"
is quite distinct: "should" is something that is advisable but
not mandatory, while "shall" means there's an obligation which
must be satisfied.
I. Duties of the Member.
Sections 1-7. If you have dealt with Decisions Concerning
the Member's Cryopreservation, these sections need no
explanation. If you have not yet tackled Decisions Concerning
the Member's Cryopreservation, please do so before you
continue.
Section 8. We will provide you with as many copies as you
need of the Relative's Affidavit, which is what you need in
order to satisfy the requirement of this section. See below
for instructions re the Relative's Affidavit.
Cancelling Section 10. "In propria persona" means you have to do it
your yourself, and no one else can do it for you. Why do we make it
membership so inconvenient for you to cancel your CryoCare membership?
Because we need to be certain that it is what you really want.
An example will make this clear. Suppose a member named Jack
Frost has suffered a stroke which impairs his ability to
communicate, and Jack's sister is managing his affairs. In the
past, she went along with his desire to be frozen, because she
was fond of him, and she got tired of arguing about it. But
now that Jack seems near death, his sister decides it's time
to stop all this nonsense. There are medical bills which need
to be paid, and it's ridiculous that the money from Jack's
life insurance is going to be wasted on this wacky cryonics
business. Jack's sister has power of attorney, which gives her
the right to sign legal documents on his behalf. So, she
writes to CryoCare to cancel Jack's membership--at which point
she finds that because of this section of the Cryopreservation
Agreement, there's nothing she can do. Jack's desire for
cryopreservation cannot be challenged, even though Jack is no
longer in a position to speak for himself.
Transferring Section 13. If you are currently a member of a different
from other cryonics organization, you may wonder how you're supposed to
cryonics change your financial arrangements (e.g. the beneficiary of
organizations your insurance policy) so that this takes effect at the same
moment when we sign this document and you become a member of
CryoCare. Don't worry; we have another form titled Agreement
to Transfer Responsibility for Cryonic
Suspension/Cryopreservation which guarantees continuous
cryonics coverage for you, even if the financial arrangements
and the legal paperwork are completed at different times. See
below for instructions on the Agreement to Transfer.
II. Duties of Cryocare.
Med Alert Section 1. There are two types of identification tag
bracelets available: neck tags and bracelets. Some people prefer the
and neck tags neck tag because it's less obtrusive. Other people feel that
the bracelet is more likely to be noticed, which may be
important in case of emergency. It's your choice
Section 2. You should be aware of the sequence of events
Actual that typically unfolds when one of our members needs help. A
procedures hypothetical case history may be the best way to make this
following clear.
a remote Jane Doe has a terminal heart condition. She has kept
standby CryoCare informed, and we have conferred with our friends at
BioPreservation, our cryopreservation service provider. Their
team leader, Mike Darwin, decides that he can't risk waiting
any longer.
Mike flies out to the city where Jane is located, and he
establishes a friendly working relationship with the staff at
Jane's hospital. His equipment and supplies are shipped to him
by air, and the hospital allows him to set up in a room next
door to Jane's. Mike's team joins him at the hospital, and
they reassure Jane that when the time comes, they will
be ready. And then they wait. Since cryonics is not yet
an acknowledged medical procedure, they are powerless to act
while Jane is alive.
Stabilization When Jane stops breathing and her physician pronounces
legal death, Mike and his team quickly give her
cardiopulmonary support, forcing her lungs and heart to resume
functioning so that her brain is not deprived of oxygen. At
the same time, Jane is placed in a portable ice bath, since
her metabolic requirements will be much less when her
temperature is lower. As far as the hospital is concerned,
Jane is no longer alive; but from our point of view, it is
possible for her life to resume in the future--so long as she
is properly protected from ischemic injury, the deterioration
which begins quite quickly when there is lack of blood flow.
Jane is injected with anticoagulants and other drugs,
after which her blood is replaced with an organ preservation
solution. At this point, her conditioin has been "stabilized."
She is enclosed in a special container full of bags of ice,
and is flown to Ontario, California. From here she is taken a
short distance to BioPreservation's operating room, where a
surgeon cannulates (attaches tubing to) her major arteries,
Perfusion and she is perfused with cryoprotectant. This is a delicate,
lengthy procedure. The concentration of cryoprotectant is
gradually increased, while temperature, pressure, and blood
gases are carefully monitored.
Finally, Jane is placed in a special bath and cooled to -
79 degrees Centigrade, the temperature of "dry ice."
All of these duties have been carried out by the staff of
BioPreservation, while a representative from CryoCare
participates as an observer. Jane is now transferred to the
care of CryoSpan, the long-term storage company, which cools
her further to -196 degrees Centigrade, the temperature of
liquid nitrogen. At this point, Jane is encapsulated in a
Encapsulation stainless-steel dewar, and her cryopreservation is complete.
From this point on, she is in stasis.
Even though Jane is now being maintained by CryoSpan,
CryoCare is still her legal custodian. It was CryoCare that
received her under the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, and
CryoCare has all her medical records and other documents. If
it ever seems that Jane would be better cared for elsewhere,
or if she is endangered for any reason, CryoCare and Jane's
Patient Advocate together have the authority to move her. If
all goes well, however, she will remain with CryoSpan for many
decades--until a time when cell-repair technology may be
capable of curing her and reversing any damage that was
inflicted by the freezing process.
Obviously, each cryopreservation is different. But this
hypothetical case explains the duties of the companies
involved, and it describes the steps that most often occur,
together with our hopes for the future.
Why we may Section 3. You may feel nervous when you read that
need to CryoCare reserves the right to increase its annual fees and
increase its cryopreservation fees. What if you make arrangements for
our fees us to receive $60,000 in the event of your death--and then we
increase our fees at a later date, when it may be difficult
for you to buy more life insurance?
One of our competing cryonics organizations guarantees
that it will never raise its cryopreservation fee for existing
members. But what will actually happen when many of these
members, who have minimal life insurance, eventually die? The
organization will receive payments which are no longer
sufficient to cover the real costs of cryopreservation and
long-term care.
Probably, the cryonics organization will be able to cover
the "funding gap" with donations or with money that has been
provided by other patients. But we don't like the idea of
having to rely on donations, and we think it's wrong for one
person's cryopreservation fee to subsidize another patient who
didn't make sufficient arrangements.
If you are frozen even though your cryopreservation
funding is insufficient to cover the actual costs of your
long-term care, this must really mean that in one way or
another, someone else is paying for you. And this means that
their funds will be diminished, which reduces their chances
for eventual resuscitation.
We don't allow this. Each patient will have a separate
account in the Patient Care Trust, and it will not be possible
for one patient to benefit from another patient's money. This
may seem hard-hearted, but we believe in the concept of
individual responsibility. It's up to you to make sure that
your cryopreservation is properly covered.
Here's what you can do to protect yourself.
How to First, make arrangements (if possible) for CryoCare to
protect receive more than the current minimum cryopreservation fee in
yourself the event of your legal death.
from fee Second, make sure that your life insurance is the type
increases that is adjusted annually for inflation. Most insurance
companies now provide this option. It means that your annual
premium will increase slightly as time goes by, but it also
guarantees that the value of your insurance payout will not
diminish in real terms.
Fee One reassuring thought: as cryonics becomes more widely
reductions accepted, long-term costs should actually go down because of
economies of scale. We can't guarantee this, but we believe
that it will turn out to be true. For instance, a large-scale
vault capable of storing 100 patients should halve the per-
person costs that we must currently pay for storage of
patients four at a time in dewars of liquid nitrogen.
Prepayment Section 5. It is possible for you to prepay some or all
of your cryopreservation fee, if you wish. The money will be
managed by the Patient Care Trust until it is needed.
Investment Section 7. We believe it is reasonable to assume that
of patient prudent management of funds by the Patient Care Trust will
funds generate a return which is at least two percent above the
prevailing rate of inflation. Historically, average
performance of the stock market has easily achieved this,
making it far more rewarding than any other form of
investment. Still, we can imagine "horror scenarios" such as a
massive market crash coupled with hyperinflation, and we must
warn you what will happen under these circumstances.
Chemo- Incidentally, "chemopreservation" means fixing the
preservation patient in a bath of (for example) formaldehyde. Assuming that
nanotechnology is eventually developed, we believe there is a
good chance that "nano machines" would be capable of breaking
the chemical bonds created by this procedure, so that there
may still be some chance for life to resume.
Observing Section 10. Normally, cryoprotective perfusion is
cryonics performed without outside observers. This is because it
procedures entails procedures similar to open-heart surgery, which might
be upsetting to many people. Sometimes, however, close
relatives have been permitted as observers, and they have
found it a very important and necessary experience. This must
be arranged on a case-by-case basis.
CryoCare as Section 14. Some people choose to make CryoCare the
irrevocable irrevocable beneficiary of life insurance or of a trust. The
beneficiary advantage of this is that it makes the money even more secure
from outside interference. The disadvantage is that it makes
it harder for you to change your mind. This section reassures
you that CryoCare will relinquish the arrangement if you ever
want us to.
Now for a few grim warnings:
Representations, Warranties, and Limits of Liability
Guarding Sections 1-16. We feel confident that we will keep our
against part of the bargain, as described in the previous part of this
legal document. Therefore, we think it is highly unlikely that one
action of our members should ever bring a legal action against us.
What worries us more is that a suit may be brought by
someone's relatives after the person has been placed in
cryopreservation.
Cryonics is a highly ethical procedure in that it is
dedicated to the preservation of human life. But some people
don't see it that way. They suspect that cryonics is a cult,
or a scam, or a get-rich-quick scheme (even though no one has
ever gotten rich from cryonics, and some activists have
devoted most of their lives to it without receiving any
tangible return).
In the past, we have seen relatives who are so outraged
by the decision of a loved one to be cryopreserved, they have
taken extreme measures to try to prevent it from happening.
Therefore, in this document, we have to itemize all our
limitations, so that we can never be accused of
misrepresenting ourselves. That is the underlying purpose of
many of the statements in this section.
Please note that despite our disclaimers, we do guarantee
one thing: to act in good faith. We promise always to place
the interests of our patients first.
IV. Contingencies
Sections 1-10. This part of the form is concerned with
external factors that may interfere with your cryopreservation
or long-term care. Once again, we are attempting to foresee
every possible disaster that may occur.
Long-term V. Restoration to Life and Health
stability Now for the good news: we pledge that CryoCare will
of CryoCare attempt to arrange your resuscitation in the future. Of
course, by that time, the current directors of CryoCare are
likely to be frozen themselves, and we can't predict who will
be running CryoCare and what their priorities will be. On the
other hand, in our bylaws, we have taken great pains to
establish CryoCare in such a way that it will remain true to
its original purpose. A copy of these bylaws is available for
your inspection if you wish.
Please note paragraph d) which suggests that you may want
to make a videotape of yourself, stating your wishes and hopes
for revival. We believe that people of the future may be moved
by personal statements from patients who are in
cryopreservation. If the only description of you is in your
Videotaping medical records, you are merely another patient. If you
yourself provide audio, video, and text records of yourself, then you
become an individual. Possibly, this may help to sustain a
link between yourself and your descendants, and may increase
your chance of resuscitation. Also, if you videotape yourself
stating your desire for cryopreservation, this is the best
possible defense if your intentions are ever challenged in a
court of law, after you are no longer able to speak for
yourself.
VIII. Miscellaneous
Section 2. By specifying that disputes are to be resolved
by the American Arbitration Association, we are hoping to
avoid costly legal fees for everyone involved.
X. Signature of Client
Witnessing these forms is not a formality. If your wishes
How to are ever challenged, a witness may be called on to testify
sign and that your signature is authentic.
witness Remember that the people who witness your signature must
your not be your relatives, or health-care providers, or officers,
documents directors, or agents of CryoCare. We suggest that it's a good
idea if they are not hostile to the idea of cryonics. We also
suggest that they should be reasonably young and in good
health.
By the time you've worked your way through the
Cryopreservation Agreement, you've passed the half-way mark.
But you still have one major bridge to cross:
Fully Consent for Cryopreservation
informed Once again, we're going to ask you to think about all the
consent worst things that can happen to you--this time in even greater
detail. Why? Because we want to be able to prove, if
necessary, that you gave your consent with full awareness of
the risks. If we can show that we did not tempt you to give us
money, and we did not make wild promises of life eternal, then
no one can try to invalidate your cryopreservations on the
grounds that you didn't know what you were doing.
Paragraph 2. Under the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act,
CryoCare is allowed to take possession of people after their
legal death (provided they previously filled out the necessary
paperwork). However, the Gift Act is intended to apply
primarily to medical facilities or institutions that conduct
research. For this reason, it's important to emphasize that we
Research do conduct research, and therefore we qualify as recipients
under the Act.
This does not mean, however, that we allow our patients
to be exposed to unnecessary risks. On the contrary, we take
extreme measures to protect them.
Paragraph 5. One purpose of our research is to learn more
about the effects of long-term storage on human tissue. The
more we know, the better we can protect all our patients. The
tissue samples that may be taken for this purpose are, of
course, minuscule.
What can Paragraphs 7, 8, 9. This is the worst news we know how to
go wrong tell you.
Paragraph 10. Let's suppose you wake up in the future,
and you don't like the way things have turned out. We don't
want you to blame us for not warning you about it.
Paragraph 13. Many times, we have dealt successfully with
hospital staff and doctors who have been initially skeptical
about cryonics. But we can't guarantee to convince everyone,
every time.
Paragraphs 14, 15. In these instructions, you have been
told some of the advantages of neuropreservation relative to
whole-body cryopreservation. Now this form tells you the
disadvantages of each procedure.
Signature. Once again, your witnesses may not be
relatives of yours, or health-care providers, or officers or
agents of CryoCare.
Now, at the risk of seeming repetitious, there is another
form relating to your consent. This is:
Authorization of Anatomical Donation
The Anatomical Gift Act is the law that enables us to
take legal possession of you after legal death is pronounced.
Therefore, it is absolutely essential for us to be able to
prove that this is your wish.
Optional When you've dealt with this, your form-signing session is
extras almost over. The forms that still remain are optional.
Relative's Affidavit
You may feel that this form is unnecessary. It may seem
inconceivable that the people closest to you might try to
interfere with your desire for cryopreservation.
Well, you may be right, and we will accept you as a
member of CryoCare even if you are unwilling or unable to get
your relatives to sign Affidavits.
Still, we would like you at least to try to get
Affidavits signed by the people closest to you--spouse,
parents, siblings, and children. We have learned the hard way
Unpredictable that people act unpredictably in times of stress. They may
behavior of seem happy to go along with your interest in cryonics today,
relatives because they don't take it seriously. But when the time comes
to freeze you, it may be a very different story, especially if
you have opted for neuropreservation, which some people find
horrifying.
We have seen many cases where relatives suddenly became
angry or obstructive, causing delays that may reduce a
patient's chances of survival. Therefore, it's a good idea for
us to have Relative's Affidavits signed in advance wherever
possible.
Deletions If one of your relatives is basically willing to sign an
Affidavit but objects to a couple of individual paragraphs,
you may delete the offending text and get the person to
initial the deletion. A partially completed Affidavit is
better than no Affidavit at all.
Patient Advocate Agreement
This form is optional, and you may want to leave it till
later. You don't have to complete this form in order to become
a member of CryoCare.
On the other hand, we do think that this Agreement is a
Powers of good idea. It's unique to CryoCare, because only CryoCare
a Patient allows you to nominate a person, or a group of people, to look
Advocate out for your interests after you are no longer able to. This
person or group of people is known as a Patient Advocate, and
has the power to make certain decisions if you become a
patient under the authority of CryoCare. In particular, a
Patient Advocate will have the right to monitor a patient's
wellbeing and can even demand that the patient be moved to a
different long-term care provider if this seems advisable.
CryoCare's Of course, CryoCare itself also takes responsibility for
directors the security of its patients. To this end, CryoCare has two
types of directors: Patient Directors, who have authority to
make decisions which affect the patients, and Member
Directors, who do not.
Each Patient Advocate can vote for Patient Directors when
they are elected every two years. In this way, CryoCare is
controlled partly by the people who are most closely linked
with our most important people--the patients themselves.
There's one snag, however. If a Patient Advocate consists
of just one person, that person must also be a member of
CryoCare before (s)he is allowed to vote. We refer to such a
person as a Pro-Patient Voter, because (s)he votes for the
Pro-Patient directors who act on behalf of the patients.
Voter If your Patient Advocate consists of a group of people,
it can only cast votes if it contains one person who is
designated by you as the Pro-Patient Voter; and again, that
person must be a member of CryoCare. It's up to you to decide
how the group's wishes are represented by the Pro-Patient
Voter, and how the group will perpetuate itself in the decades
to come. All we require is that you give us a copy of any
document(s) controlling the internal workings of your Patient
Advocate.
This all sounds complex, but it enables important
feedback from people who are truly committed to the wellbeing
of our patients.
Note that after you create a Patient Advocate, it has no
powers or functions so long as you are alive. If you are
placed in cryopreservation, then your Patient Advocate becomes
active to protect you.
If you choose not to set up a Patient Advocate, you can
ignore this form. Under our bylaws, by default, our Patient
Directors will take on the full responsibility for patients
who lack advocates. But we think it's a better idea for you to
set up a Patient Advocate, so that you have a direct say in
your own eventual care.
The form itself should now be self-explanatory. We'll
just remind you that in Article 1, Section 1.1, you should
fill out only part a, part b, part c, or part d, and delete
the other parts that do not apply to you.
Help in Your main problem will be finding people who are
finding a sufficiently motivated, knowledgable, caring, young, and
Patient healthy to serve as participants in your Patient Advocate. You
Advocate may contact us for advice on this, if you wish, and we may be
able to refer you to cryonics activists in your area who will
be willing to participate.
A Final Note about Legal Documents
If you have any suggestions about our paperwork, we want
to hear them. Cryonics is still a relatively new field, and
it's possible that you may think of something that we have
missed.
We want Also, please feel free to show our documents to an
your attorney, and pass on to us any comments that the attorney
feedback makes. We want the agreements to be as good as they can be. If
there's something we can do to make them better, we'll be glad
to take the necessary time and trouble.
Thanks for choosing CryoCare! We hope you'll never regret
the trust that you're putting in us. We'll certainly do our
best to live up to your expectations.
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