Cryonics and Unhelpful Legislation, Attitudes

As pointed out at TechNewsWorld, organizing the cryopreservation of someone who will not survive to benefit from near-future healthy life extension medicine faces all sorts of hurdles from third parties who would, in a just world, have no ability to interfere: "In 2003, a daughter of Ted Williams attempted to stop the cryonic suspension of the Hall of Fame baseball player. Williams had signed a 'family pact' asking to be preserved, but delays and a media circus ensued. He is not the only one that Alcor, the nation's leading cryonics organization, has had to fight to preserve. ... Even with clear legal documentation, hospitals around the country are wary of giving up bodies for cryopreservation. In at least one state, Arizona, legislators have considered making it nearly impossible for individuals to choose to be cryonically suspended. This brings up the universal question of individual self-determination as well as the proper role of government. ... Government should have no role in deciding one's fate after death so long as the individual's choice isn't harming anyone. ... Few people thought it would ever be possible to launch airborne a large piece of machinery or to send a person to the moon. Despite this, the Wright brothers and the U.S. Apollo 11 mission succeeded. Perhaps one day a nanotechnologist and cryobiologist will join that list. ... Meddlesome government types should leave them alone."

Link: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/MEMpD30L8TcXX2/A-Conversation-About-Cryonics.xhtml

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