Author Archives: Peter

Dec 12

What needs to happen at standby and transportation time

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I see a lot written about this.  I am going to provide my understanding.  I have visited both Alcor and CI and discussed this topic frequently within cryonics circles.  Also, in doing all the preparations for CSA I have looked at legal, hospital arrangements and other implications.

There are basically two broad situations (and a lot in between) that may occur when you need a suspension.

The easier one first.

You are in a hospital (or other medical facility) and your time is near, but it is not critically near.  I am going to be blunt and say you have more than just a couple of days to live, but you may not have more than say a couple of weeks.  At this point you need someone to contact a central coordinator for your standby and transportation.  If it is volunteer help such as Cryonics Association of Australia (CAA), contact them.  If you have a contract with Alcor or CSA, contact their coordinator.

I did say this is the easier one, but even this has some obvious complications.  The biggest issue is that you recover.  I think that would be wonderful, but some costs have been incurred and have to be covered.  The coordinator will need to make a judgement call to keep costs to the essentials.  But if costs have been incurred you will need to pay for them.  Talk to CSA to find out more about all this.

I am assuming you have pre-planned all these arrangements.   If you have not, and now are critically ill in a hospital trying to do it (or someone is doing it on your behalf) at the last minute it will probably mean that things will be delayed.  It is also very likely you will not have the funds to get it done.  All this should be pre-planned as part of your future suspension.  Talk to CSA about pre-planning it.   We can arrange it with a volunteer organization, Alcor or CSA.  It will be your choice.

The more difficult one is where it is an emergency.  This assumes you are not at a medical facility.  For example, say you have a heart attack at home.

!!! FIRST THING IS TO CALL THE EMERGENCY SERVICE (000) !!!

Here is what Dennis Kowalski, president of CI, has to say about this.


That is by far the most important first step.

Then you, or someone who knows your cryonics requirements, should notify your cryonics coordinator. Again this could be volunteer help through CAA, or more professional assistance through Alcor or CSA.  It depends on who you have arrangements with.  Depending on their capabilities the coordinators will set things in motion consistent with your requirements.

I have heard some advise that if you die at home you should be put in an ice bath. Here are some problems with that.  Who has declared you dead?  Is it a proper legal death?  If someone puts you in an ice bath before you are declared legally dead there may be implications that the ice bath killed you.  Some suspicion creates legal issues, which delay things and perhaps even means an autopsy is required.  You need to avoid anything like that.

Best thing you can do if something happens at home is for the emergency service (000) to be called as quickly as possible.   If the situation is critical and someone can apply compressions to the heart, they should do so. The emergency 000 people will give advice on what should be done. Their advice should be followed.  Artificial respiration and heart compressions are usually a recommended course of action to provide a better chance of eventual recovery.   Additionally, if you are mortally ill, heart compressions are a good preparation for a suspension.  For both a recovery from your illness or for cryonics suspension the main aim is to get blood flowing to the brain for as long as possible.

I want to stress again that the most important step is to get medical help through the emergency service.  The strong likely chance is that you can be medically resuscitated and not need a suspension.  In the worst case, where you do need a suspension (i.e. you do die), being in a hospital or medical facility means obtaining a death certificate can be facilitated with minimal risk of your death being considered unusual, possibly requiring further investigation and perhaps autopsy.  Usually a hospital needs the bed quickly so they may want to release your remains as quickly as possible to a qualified professional (e.g. funeral director).   That is to your advantage as you may get a death certificate quickly.  The cryonics professionals handling your case can get you out as quickly as possible to a suitable location to begin the various processes necessary for your transportation and eventual suspension.

In summary the most important action is NOTIFICATION. First the emergency services (dial 000) and then your standby/cryonics coordinator.

Regards, Peter

Dec 10

Standby/Transportation Costs

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Even though it is not the “sexiest” part of cryonics, standby and transportation is nonetheless very important.  No, there are no shiny tanks and liquid nitrogen “smoke” bubbling out to capture your attention, but going by the old adage “rubbish in/rubbish out”, the better the standby and transportation, the better the chances are of a good suspension.

So what is available in Australia?  At the moment some, but not very much.  A good bet is to join Cryonics Association of Australia (CAA) and hope that a volunteer may be able to assist with it all when the critical time comes.   My estimate for a very simple standby with some limited transportation, but with no overseas transportation, costs in the order of $10,000 (this may be more if include additional funeral charges and transportation).  The costing can however vary widely, depending on individual circumstances. The CAA process probably involves a simple straight freeze.  Please remember though that CAA is a volunteer group and we should be very thankful we have even that.  I can get better costing for your individual situation if you contact me.

Let me add that if you are an Alcor member and have arranged for all the coverage (costs about $300,000, which includes about $60,000 for overseas cover), then you get full body standby/transportation using the latest pre-vitrification technology all professionally done.   For a neuro only, this is of the order of $150,000.  Use these numbers as a guide only.   I have tried to work them in A$ for very general examples. If you want the more accurate costs for your particular case, please go to the Alcor web site or discuss with me separately.

Back to what else is available in Australia if you are not an Alcor full overseas member.

If you go the Cryonics Services Australia (CSA) route, then at the moment the cost is about $30,000 to $40,000 which, includes transport to the US facility.  Please remember we are not talking about the suspension here.  This is just the standby and transportation.   All this is with professional central coordination, but not yet using the latest pre-vitrification technology.   At the moment the latest pre-vitrification techniques are not available in Australia. That is one of the things CSA is now working on.  See my previous blog.   If you go with the future (I hope in about 1 year) CSA route, with full pre-vitrification, then about $35,000 to $45,000.

Again a lot of this costing depends on your specific situation so if you are interested, please let me know.

All the above for CSA assumes you are in a hospital (or similar) in a major city and you need to be transported to the US.  Reduce these numbers by about $10,000 if Stasis Systems Australia (SSA) is up and running… perhaps in about 1 to 2 year’s time.  Remember the SSA fees for suspension are not expected to include standby/transportation.  SSA is being developed on the basis of being similar to the Cryonics Institute (CI) model.  i.e. the patient has to essentially be delivered to the CI door and then CI takes over.   So for SSA, when operational, you need to add the CAA or CSA standby/transportation fees to the SSA fees for complete cryonics cover.  I told you cryonics arrangements can be very confusing.  That’s why we formed CSA (i.e. Cryonics Services Australia) to help you through all this, so you do not have to worry about it.  Talk to us at CSA and we can help you with all this

For your information the CSA route also monitors your health to see if some sort of early warning can be set up. The aim is to get to you as fast as possible.  We hope the CSA route in the future (in about 1 year) will be at a level to match Alcor’s very professional system.  With our local knowledge and ability to get to a patient faster locally, we are confident we can provide a first rate service.

Excluding any normal suspension, storage etc. costs,  standby and transportation will cost you very approximately the following:

Go the CAA route $5,000 to $15,000 (more if additional funeral and transportation charges)
Go the Alcor route About $60,000 above your normal Alcor costs
Go the CSA route (now) About $30,000 to $40,000
Go the CSA route (future) About $35,000 to $45,000
Go the CSA route (future) with SSA About $20,000 to $35,000

Wow!  You are talking about costs that are about as high as the suspension itself.  Yes we are, but as I said, if this is not done properly then the suspension is not done properly.  Also, in all this I have not mentioned the costs, which I briefly touch upon in my other blog, if things go well and you survive your hospitalization and do not need to be suspended.

If you want more information, please feel free to talk to me.  CSA has looked quite deeply into all this and you may be surprised at what is available to make it affordable.

Regards, Peter T

Oct 18

Status of Standby Project

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If you do not see the YouTube videos either in the side bar or at the bottom of this blog, please click here.

I have not written very much recently as I have been very busy progressing a number of cryonics projects.   In addition to the standby project I am describing the status of here, I have taken over the leadership role in our sister organization Stasis Systems Australia (SSA).  I am working to accelerate SSA’s project to become operational soon.

As I have discussed in previous blogs, I have been working on developing a cryonics standby network for Australia since about May this year, after my visit to the US. In this I have had the very kind assistance of Aaron Drake (Alcor’s Medical Response Director) and Dennis Kowalski (President of the Cryonics Institute).

There is quite a great deal of material around, but not all of it is ideally suited for Australia. The major challenge for Australia is that we have large distances and a relatively small population. Most of the population is centered in a few larger coastal cities. This means that standby needs to have the capability of being at the patient’s bedside, at the very least in each major city.  From there, have the capability of transferring the patient to a central location (nominally Sydney) for further transport either to a local facility or to a US facility.  Additionally, due to the smaller population, standby requirements are significantly less frequent than more populated countries so the process must be readily applicable even after long periods of inactivity. The network being developed has three stages of standby groups all coordinated by a central group/person. The plan is that each of these groups will have the tools, training and equipment to handle a successful standby.

The first step is notification.  CSA will handle the standby coordination of activities for cryonics clients.

The various resources and activities at each stage are:

Stage 1

These are non professionals. I would hope that some of the laypersons attending the Aaron Drake training may volunteer. This group would have very fundamental training. Essentially, they may be the closest and the first on the scene at a patient’s hospital bed.   In many cases, they may even personally know the patient.

Without getting into the details their key role would be:

  • Talking with hospital staff to explain the situation and seek cooperation, assuming this has not been done beforehand.
  • If time is of the essence, trying to obtain official death notification.
  • After legal death, perhaps setting up a heart thumper for circulation or, at the very least, applying preliminary ice cooling, particularly to the head.
  • They may even provide some very basic assistance to the stage 2 personnel.

The degree of involvement of this group will depend upon the urgency of the patient’s condition and how much time there has been for preparation.

Stage 2

Under more normal circumstances, this will be the primary group to attend to the patient, even though a stage 1 person may be there. This group will likely be the professional funeral home contacts located in each state, which will be coordinated by the central funeral home in Sydney or Melbourne. We have good relationships with funeral homes in both cities and they have the capability to reach out to all the main capitals. These contacts can be on the scene very shortly after notification.  Their main task is to prepare the patient for transport to Sydney.  Some of their activities may be possible in the hospital and some at their local funeral home, depending upon the relationship with the hospital.

The key activities are:

  • Hospital staff coordination
  • Death certification
  • Cooling patient (ice bath temperature)
  • Post mortum circulation renewal
  • Medication/stabilization
  • Transport to local funeral home for more preparation depending on what can be done at death location (usually hospital)
  • Transport the patient to central funeral home in Sydney for stage 3 activities
  • This group has a maximum of about 1-2 days to complete this stage.

Stage 3

This will be handled either by medical or funeral professionals at the central funeral home.

  • Preparation and perfusion to dry ice pre-vitrification temperature; allows patient to be in this condition for up to 2 weeks and still obtain a good suspension
  • Documentation
  • Transportation in appropriate container to SSA or an overseas facility

As you would expect, this blog is only a very brief summary of the requirements. The detailed procedures for each of the stages, using an easy to follow structured approach which, includes photos and videos, is now being completed by adapting the material from Alcor, CI and the UK cryonics group and adapting for Australia. When completed, it will be made available on line and updated as necessary. The primary aim is to have a functioning network in Australia to handle standbys and to have available straightforward procedures that can be carried out on a simple step by step basis. Cryonics suspensions do not occur frequently, especially in Australia, so the procedures need to be easily understood and readily accessible to be applied at short notice.

 

What now needs to be done for the Standby Project includes:

  • Check availability of medications in Australia
  • Check equipment needs, availability and costing for Australia (some already done)
  • Discuss with central funeral home in Sydney how to handle each state
  • Discuss with local (in each state) potential non professionals
  • Determine feasibility and costing of purchasing and/or creating dedicated standby kits
  • Conduct additional training as appropriate
  • Recycle the processes based on updated information
  • Set up a register of cryonics clients in Australia together with their health condition and update over time.  This may be useful for early warning of standby requirements.

There is still a lot of work to progress. I am expecting completion of most of this (i.e. to have a functioning network available in Australia) within the next year or so.  In the meantime I will keep you updated on this blog.

Regards, Peter T

Jul 12

Reasons why cryonics will not work

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I was recently reading some reasons why cryonics would not work and decided to put them, and others I have seen, down in their simplest form.  I know there are subtleties and complexities to these arguments, but very often they are presented as a one liner, even by people whose background you would expect more logic from.  I decided to also present as a simple statement and draw a “logical” conclusion from the statement.

  1. If you freeze something, it comes out as mush when thawed.  Just put a steak in your freezer, leave it for 2 days then thaw it.  You see, mush when it is defrosted.
  2. Have you ever seen or heard of a person suspended and brought back to life.  If something has not been done yet, it must be impossible.
  3. It goes against what is natural.  People were only meant to live about 70 years (substitute with what you think is natural). Any extension to this through medical progress is unnatural and should not be pursued.
  4. The few thousand who may be suspended will cause over population if ever resurrected.  Therefore cryonics should not be pursued. Those billions with their life expectancy now extended many years by current medicine will have no effect on the population so this is a worthwhile endeavor.
  5. The human brain and body is too complex to be restored. It can’t ever be done.  Nothing as complex as the human brain and body can exist.
  6. The human brain contains more than just the physical.  I just feel that it contains something more.  That something more that seems to me to be there cannot be brought back when dead.  Just ask those who were dead and brought back by current medicine.
  7. The scientists who say cryonics will not work are right. The equally qualified scientists who say it may work are wrong.
  8. There is nothing known now that even has the slightest hint that cryonics may be possible. The freezing of human sperm cells and embryos has nothing to do with humans.

I am up to number 8.  If anyone can think of more please let me know.

Regards, Peter T

Jul 04

May 2014 visit to Alcor and Cryonics Institute

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If the YouTube videos do not show please click here.    Please pardon my poor video skills.  The idea was to capture as much as possible, while carrying on a conversation.

As I mentioned in a previous entry, I spent time in the US in early May visiting Alcor and the Cryonics Institute (CI).   I spent two days at each facility and was fortunate enough to be there when a lot was happening.

I want to say straight from the onset that the people at both facilities imbue professionalism and dedication.  Everyone I met was hard working, knowledgeable and, most importantly, very friendly.  I am sure you will see this displayed as I describe what I saw there.  Yes, I would put my long term life at either of these facilities.  Those who know me, know how critical I can be and am not easily impressed.

Alcor:  May 6, 2014

I arrived at Alcor on the day when there was a delivery of a “big foot” Dewar (large cryonics storage vacuum flask used by Alcor).  The people I met were Max Moore, Hugh Hixon, Aaron Drake, Diane Cremeens, Steve Graber and others, who were all very friendly and welcoming.  Also, things were hectic because they had received word that a patient had very recently died in another State.  I talked with Max and Hugh and was taken for a tour of the facility by both of them.  Meanwhile, Aaron Drake worked the phones organizing his trip to claim the patient and to try to get the patient released from the officials.  The patient was a “neuro” and the death was under somewhat suspicious circumstances.  Aaron had to negotiate with the local authorities in a rural town in Alabama to both obtain release of the patient (neuro) and to make sure they did not conduct an autopsy on the brain.  It was touch and go, but Aaron’s skills won through in the end.  Aaron and Steve then left on a hired private jet to recover the patient.  The neuro perfusion was scheduled for 2am the next morning, immediately after the anticipated arrival of the patient.  Yes 2 am.  I was very graciously invited to attend.

IMG_0911Alcor Dewar delivery with Max MooreSmaller1

Max Moore and Peter discussing the “big foot” dewar delivery.

In the meantime there was a delivery of a “big foot” Dewar about to take place.  It was “all hands on deck” to take the deliver.  As I now know, it is not an easy operation.  I took video of the arrival.  This segment shown here was only a short part of a long activity, which needed utmost care in order to not damage the Dewar.  Max and Hugh worked the forklift trucks.  Steve, who needed to fly out with Aaron, assisted until it was time to leave.  The work was successfully competed after many long hours in the very hot sun.  Time for me to leave to let the others get ready for the patient arrival at 2am in the morning.

 

 

Alcor:  May 7, 2014

I arrived back at the facility at 2am the next day.  Everyone was already there.  Aaron and Steve had brought the patient.  Max, Hugh and Steve were then all there manning the equipment and the team included a surgeon and others to assist. I will not go into the details of the procedure.  I did take copious notes, but understandably I was not allowed to film what was happening.  Alcor is very careful about patient confidentiality and rightly so.  The profusion I witnessed was an intensive process, which followed established protocols.  I was very impressed that near enough was not good enough.  All the conditions and tests had to meet their predetermined requirements.  For example, a neuro profusion typically may take about 1 hour or so.  Because of some clotting in the brain and other complications, this profusion lasted for over three hours.  Certain specific criteria in the written protocols had to be met before the perfusion would be stopped and the patient could move to the next stage.  No one gave up until this criteria was met.  Many of those there had not slept for over 24 hours, but did not stop until everything was done as specified.

The video shows the perfusion area for a neuro, but, of course, this is before the patient was there.  Again the privacy of the patient was considered paramount.

Cryonics Institute:  May 13, 2014

CryonicsInstituteTour02 smaller

Dennis explaining the cryonics processes to students

I could not have timed my visits any better at both facilities.  On the first day I arrived at the Cryonics Institute I was greeted by Dennis Kowalski,  Andy Zawacki, Joe Kowalsky and Doug Golner.  Cryonics must just breed friendly people.  Like at Alcor all were extremely personable and friendly.  On that day there was a visit of about 40 biology students from a local high school as part of CI’s outreach program to the community.   Although their teacher was not into cryonics, she organized these visits with her classes each year to ensure her students kept an open and inquiring mind about all new developments.  I was very impressed by the depth of the questions asked by the students, ranging from science to economic and philosophic issues.  I did not take video of this segment because, very understandably, the taking of pictures of students without their parents permission is not allowed.  During this session Joe also showed a video of his Cryoprize program.   The whole visit, which lasted a couple of hours, ended with a fun exercise where ice cream was made using the liquid nitrogen.

Cryonics Institute:  May 14, 2014

Cryonics_Training03 smaller2

Dennis showing Peter how the heart thumper works

Dennis, Andy and Steve took me for an in depth tour of the facility.  Because of my interest in standby Dennis went through all the equipment they would recommend obtaining.  We discussed putting together simplified standby/transportation procedures that could be used by laypersons, then a more complex set of procedures for professionals.  I volunteered to try to put something together, working with the material I had from CI, Alcor and the Aaron Drake visit.  We talked about releasing it to all interested.

 

There is a lot more material I have from both organizations, but I promised this would only be a summary of my visit.

I would like to thank the people at both Alcor and the Cryonics Institute for making me feel so welcome and for generously providing me of their time.  I have a lot of material now for the work I am doing for both CSA and SSA.  This includes:

  • Strong understanding of client documentation, life insurance and other administrative requirements
  • Better understanding of facility, equipments needs, skills and training needs
  • Clear understanding of standby/transportation requirements

More about all this in forthcoming blogs. Regarding standby/transportation, the next steps are to start putting together the preliminary procedures and developing a workable network that may apply in Australia, but may also be used in the cryonics world.  Of course these will evolve over time as we update/improve the methods and develop new training material.

Regards,  Peter T.

Jun 04

How does CSA develop and implement your plan?

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I would like to outline how Cryonics Services Australia Pty Ltd (CSA) develops a plan for coordinating your cryonics needs.  Please keep in mind that CSA is not providing financial, insurance, legal or any other similar services, advice or products.  All these will be provided by licensed qualified specialists.  CSA is coordinating these services specifically for your cryonics needs.

Here is what happens:

Step 1 (free of charge)
CSA prepares a written plan for your specific situation.  This will include, among other things, selection of a cryonics storage organization, very long term trust arrangements and suggestions of methods of financing these, usually through life insurance.  For this CSA will need only your date of birth and permanent address, primarily so some estimates may be made for the cost of life insurance.  In this plan all the numbers will be estimates based on generic information CSA has. The actual amounts, specifically tailored to you, will be determined when the plan is implemented with the professional service providers (e.g. life insurance brokers) in step 3 below.  I do not think you will get big surprises between the actual and CSA’s numbers and also remember that no commitments on your part are made yet.

Step 2 (free of charge)
CSA discusses the plan with you and it is modified as necessary, based on the discussions.

Step 3 (should you proceed with the plan, costs shown below)
If you are happy with the plan, you and CSA sign an agreement covering what will be done.  This will include CSA’s fees, as well as indications of other 3rd party costs.  CSA then implements the plan for you and coordinates your requirements with all the service providers. e.g. life insurance, long term trust, cryonics organization of your choice etc.  CSA will need more information from you to do this.  CSA will organize all this, where possible, using standard templates and complete all the documentation for you (based on the information you provide).  One of CSA’s services is to handle this coordination so it is as hassle free as possible for you.  You, of course, will be able to read all the documentation, comment, query, adjust, fill out what you want yourself, before you personally sign off with these service providers.  CSA will not be entering into any agreements/commitments on your behalf.  You will be the sole decider of what you do and sign off on.  Also, if there is private information you do not wish CSA to know that can be handled appropriately.

Here is an idea of the estimated up front fees you may have to pay.  They only come into play in step 3.
• CSA’s fee is about $2,500 to $4,500 and depends on the range of services you need coordinated.  The usual fee will be about $3,000.
• If you have special requirements, which are outside the templates CSA offers, then the extra CSA fees/costs will need to be determined.  Usually the extra costs relate to lawyers or accountants fees.  Typically CSA would recommend not deviating from the established templates.  The final decision is however yours.
• “Trust set up fees” paid to the Trust organization: about $3,000
• Initial fee to cryonics organization: $200
• Any banking/other set up fees : probably less than $200.
• If you need your lawyers/accountants to look at something, then, understandably, you will need to pay for that.
• If you need to travel for say US life insurance then you would incur additional travel expenses.

After your plan is implemented, the ongoing fees will be primarily for life insurance premiums and memberships/subscriptions.

I look forward to your questions.

Regards, Peter T

Apr 23

Aaron Drake, Alcor’s Medical Response Director, Training Visit

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Judging from the feedback, the training visit by Aaron Drake, Alcor’s Medical Response Director, went exceedingly well.  The aim was primarily to provide training for professionals and laypersons on the newer techniques for partial vitrification prior to transportation to the cryonics facility.  These new methods allow patients to be brought down to dry ice temperatures (about -78 degrees C) and be partially vitrified.  Vitrification is a low temperature glass-like state which retains cell and organ structure with minimal damaging ice formation. This dry ice temperature state allows up to two weeks of traveling time enabling the patient to be transported overseas or the vast distances within Australia with virtually no deterioration.  Full vitrification may then be conducted at the destination point facility.

Phil and myself introducing Aaron

Phil and myself introducing Aaron

 

The event was a very successful collaboration between Cryonics Association of Australia (CAA) and Stasis Systems Australia (SSA) and, of course, all the others who had donated to make it possible.  I coordinated the event wearing my SSA Director’s hat for SSA, and Philip Rhoades, the Executive Officer of CAA and a Director of Neural Archive Foundation (NAF), coordinated for CAA.

 

 

Aaron Drake at the laypersons session

Aaron Drake at the laypersons session

The main sessions were over two days with additional feedback periods over the next couple of days, together with some very enjoyable social occasions.  The first of the main sessions was for professionals attended by 7 people from the medical and funeral industry.  The second was for interested laypersons and was attended by about 17 people.  While the events provided valuable training, it also allowed cryonists from around Australia to meet and share their enthusiasm and views regarding cryonics, as well as quite a few other topics.

Attendees interacting during a break in the layperson session

Attendees interacting during a break in the layperson session

We were also fortunate enough to have a team from Melbourne making a documentary on a cryonics topic who agreed to film the two main sessions using their professional equipment.  Philip and I also filmed most on it on our more modest cameras.  We therefore have a valuable record of the training.  For the professional session this will need to be combined with the more detailed professional processes Aaron has and will be sharing with us at a later date.

Although our primary purpose was to provide training we achieved so much more, which will be useful for cryonics in Australia.

  • We now have close contacts and a personal relationship with a network of professionals with training who we believe can cover most of Australia for preparation and transportation to a cryonics facility.  Again we will still need the more detailed processes from Aaron to complete this training.
  • We have a solid network of laypeople who can be involved in the less professional work associated with an early response to a cryonics patient’s needs.
  • We have the initial training material that can be used to train others both professional and non professional.
  • We had close cooperation between SSA and CAA and showed that if there are enough interested in these events we may plan more.
  • We developed a good personal relationship with Aaron and as a result strong links to Alcor for future joint cooperation activities.
  • One of the embalmers present is the Chair of the British Institute of Embalmers, Australasian Division, and has invited Aaron to present to a training session at their 2015 conference.

My next steps are to follow up on all these and, in particular, to develop suitable procedures and a network, which will be workable in Australia to cover standby, stabilization, partial vitrification and then transportation.  To this end I will also be traveling to the US in early May 2014 to talk further with those at Alcor and at the Cryonics Institute.  I will also be covering a wide range of other cryonics topics with them, which I will discuss in a subsequent blog entry.

Regards,   Peter T

Jan 22

What CSA’s agreement with you is about

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I would like to outline what the client agreement would look like without so much of the legal detail that such agreements tend to have and I hope that this post will also provide more information of what we believe we can do for you.

The services that CSA provides are in three stages.  Let me briefly explain what we do in each.

Stage one is what we do for you now.  Basically, this is the setting up of your cryonics suspension and financial arrangements.   I want to stress that we do not give legal, financial planning, insurance or similar advice.  What we do is coordinate with qualified experts in these areas the best arrangements for you to have a cryonics suspension available with a recognized cryonics organization, when you need it.

So what are the financial arrangements in stage one?  One of them is the life insurance policy to pay for your future cryonics suspension and other associated activities.  The other is the initiation of a long term trust.  You do not need to put funds into the trust yet, but we need to set it up early.  Then we work together to decide which organization you want to handle your eventual cryonics suspension.  Suppose you choose Cryonics Institute in the USA.  We arrange and complete all the documentation for you to sign.  We also link your life insurance policy into their agreement, in line with their requirements.  In case life insurance is not applicable to you, we investigate what other financial arrangements you can make.  Basically we see you doing very little for this stage.  We do it all for you while making sure you understand what is happening each step of the way.

If yours is a fairly standard arrangement, and most are, we plan to charge about $2,500 to $5,000 one time fee.  After this is done you will still have ongoing obligations.  For instance, remember that life insurance policy set up for you.  There will be a few others as well.  e.g. membership of the cryonics organizations and subscription fees for CSA, but these others are small.  The big one is life insurance.  We will try to work this so all of these together cost you about the price of a cup of take-away coffee a day.  Okay that’s advertising talk.  Plainly put, it works out to about $1,100 to $1,400 a year.  Yes, that’s what that coffee a day adds up to.

Stage two takes us to the period from after the arrangements are made in stage one, up to the time of your suspension.  You do not have to participate in this stage two.  We will recommend that you do, but it is up to you.  Stage two has a subscription fee of $190 a year.  And yes, it is included in that cost of the one take-away coffee a year.

So what do you get in this stage two?  At this stage we have identified the following but we plan to add more:

  • Access to a protected area of our web site which will provide you with communications with other subscribers, a bulletin board of latest information and activities, special offers and tailored information only available to subscribers
  • Identification material to be used in emergencies which identify your requirements and contacts, personal data storage for your documentation, and coordination of back-to-base arrangements.
  • Details of the arrangements we have made for you, with all the updates as they occur
  • Access to upgrades to the processes and service provided by CSA
  • Ongoing advice about your arrangements, including enhancements or updates.  An example of this may be that in Australia, life insurance becomes almost unaffordable past the age of 65.  CSA will advise you of other more affordable ways to maintain your funds.
  • If you are a subscriber for three straight years, immediately before and up to the time of your suspension, you have access to CSA’s stage three services.  If you are younger, you may decide to not be a subscriber at this stage and take it on later in life to make sure you get the advantages  of the three straight years.

Stage three is around the time of your suspension.  The list of what we will do here is quite substantial.  And please remember all the costs of these are from the financial arrangements (e.g. the life insurance policy) we set up for you in stage one. The following is a brief list and, of course, depends on your wishes as to what you want us to cover.  It includes :

  • Finalize your funds with the trust you had set up in stage one
  • Set up a second type of quasi-trust, which will provide back-up long term funds, for issues that may occur while you are suspended (e.g. being moved), for revival should they prove necessary, plus many other contingencies.
  • Arrange various forms of transportation and preparation, including overseas transportation
  • Include limited standby at your hospital bed to ensure that you are prepared for you suspension
  • Make sure all the legal documentation is in order including health requirements and overseas transport requirements
  • Provide support for your family, including, should they wish, a memorial service and professional counseling.

Remember this is all being paid for by the life insurance policy costing that approximate price of one cup of take-away coffee a day.  You are not paying extra for all this.  Of course this life insurance also pays for your suspension with the suspension organization you chose in stage one.

Okay a lot of words and some can be quite confusing.  Let me summarize it all.  For about $3000, plus any fees the professional organizations will charge, we set all this up for you.  Then you pay about the price of 1 cup of take-away coffee a day, mostly for life insurance, until the time of your suspension and you get a suspension by a recognized cryonics organization, plus everything listed in the above, if you want it.

Regards,  Peter T

Jan 15

Ten reasons why you should consider cryonics through CSA

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Just to be clear, CSA does not handle suspensions or storage.  This will still need to be paid for separately to the professional organizations like Stasis Systems Australia, Alcor or Cryonics Institute, at the time of your suspension.  CSA will coordinate all your initial requirements, including an appropriate life insurance policy, so that your ongoing costs to enable you to make these and other payments, at the time of your suspension, will be about the cost of a cup of take-away coffee a day.  CSA will charge a fee to set all this up.  We project it to be from $1,500 to $4,500, depending on your requirements.

Okay, first question I would ask, “Isn’t a fee of  $1,500 to $4,500 a lot of money just to set up a life insurance policy?”

It is a lot of money!  But for the amount of work involved, it’s worth it.  We are trying to make cryonics accessible and easy for all interested.

Here is a basic outline of what we will do.  You could do all this yourself, but it can be time consuming, complex and in some cases much more expensive. We have standardized processes to handle the details. We will be using standard templates to average the costs of doing this over many clients and, as a result, keeping the cost per client low.

We will:

  1. Organize affordable life insurance with a secure life insurance company that accepts a third party beneficiary.  Doing this yourself without the expert contacts is very difficult.
  2. Complete all the administrative requirements with the cryonics service provider.  The US providers have complex requirements.  Many pages of legal paperwork.  You also need to coordinate with them and confirm your life insurance details.  We have close contact with these providers and experience in their requirements.
  3. Ensure that everything is done “by the book” legally with all the appropriate consent forms.
  4. Set up your requirements with the overseas providers so you may switch at a later date, if you wish, to use Stasis Systems Australia when they are available.
  5. Coordinate setting up a long term trust with reputable secure organizations so you will have funds in the future.  CSA has not yet finished this, but the cost so far is running at about $20,000 and still counting.   It is a very expensive exercise to do by yourself.
  6. Set you up so that you will not lose your funds should you not be revived.  They will go to a charity of your choice or a future relative.
  7. If you stay with us over the longer term, then we will advise you on what you can do in your older age when life insurance becomes unaffordable.  There are many options and we have access to professionals who can help to keep things affordable.
  8. If your suspension is with an overseas provider, we can coordinate the transportation and limited standby required.  Also, we can coordinate the Australian and US legal issues of you being transported to the US.
  9. Provide support to your family in their time of grief through compassionate explanations of the processes involved; coordinate a respectful memorial service, should they need it; and organize professional counseling, again, should they need it.
  10. For our fee of $1,500 to $4,500 we will organize your cryonic suspension and future funds in such a way so that your ongoing costs will only be about the cost of a cup of take-away coffee a day.

Regards,  Peter T

Dec 21

Background to Cryonic Services Australia

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Now a little more about CSA.  When we started looking at what it takes to secure a future cryonic suspension in Australia, a range of questions quickly came up.  Is it affordable?  How do I do it?  Which cryonics provider is right for me?  How do I organize life insurance?  What happens when I can no longer obtain life insurance? What are the estate planning implications?  What do I actually have to administratively do?  What documentation do I need and how do I complete it?  What are the international implications should I choose an overseas cryonics provider? How do I have funds for the time when I am revived?   And a host of other complicated questions.

We decided that we needed a “one stop” doorway to eliminate these complexities.  For a nominal fee, CSA would do this. The idea is that CSA will standardize all these requirements and, in doing so, spread the cost over all our clients keeping the total cost per client low.  We believe we can achieve it.  For organizing and coordinating a standard package of documentation, agreements with the cryonics suspension organizations, life insurance, trust set up, some estate planning, and some basic legal work we believe we can keep our fee between $1,500 to $4,500 depending on your requirements.  Additionally, although it is not our primary role, we would also have the resourcing and capability to handle a client’s extra requirements, if desired.

You can get an idea from this web site what we are trying to do with CSA.  I should add that CSA will not only be there to supply clients for Stasis Systems Australia, but we also have the capability of organizing your suspension with the overseas US organizations, such as Alcor and Cryonics Institute.  This can be a stop gap measure until Stasis Systems Australia is up and running, or some clients may decide that the overseas facilities may be more suited to their needs because of their proven long history.

Regards,  Peter T