Legalities Make Organizing Cryopreservation Hard
Thanks to bureaucrats who don't think people should be allowed to make their own decisions, a great deal of risk attends the organization of cryopreservation. Take this case for example: "Alcor member A-1407 suffered cardiac arrest while snorkeling in Barbados and was subsequently pronounced legally dead. He was traveling with a companion who knew to contact Alcor immediately. Because of the circumstances and the local legal requirements, an autopsy was unavoidable. After some negotiation, the coroner limited the investigation to the minimum necessary to determine the cause of death (heart attack), and he did not touch the brain. Alcor received good cooperation from a funeral director, who had once attended a seminar on cryonics. ... The paperwork required to transport the patient was extensive, and necessitated the police conclude their investigation. Alcor involved the local US embassy to expedite the process, and the Deputy Consul in particular was quite helpful." Cryonics has a lot in common with the right to choose the time and method of one's own death - a right denied to most people in the western world. In a truly free country, a person would be free to arrange their own cryopreservation at any time they chose, and so maximize the chances of success. Unfortunately, that is not the case in the US.
Link: http://www.alcornews.org/weblog/2009/02/case_summary_a1407.html