Better Organizing Your Cryopreservation
Following up on a recent Alcor story, Aschwin de Wolf at Depressed Metabolism has some pointers: "There are various ways [risk of failure to obtain cryopreservation] can be minimized and we should start thinking about them. Most of all, cryonics members should execute living wills that rule out scenarios where greedy relatives will benefit from the patient not being cryopreserved. Furthermore, cryonics members should execute a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care to ensure that the person who is authorized to make medical decisions on the cryonics member's behalf has a strong commitment to honoring this person's wish to be cryopreserved. This often will require giving this authority not to the person who is closest to you but to the person who is most knowledgeable and respectful of your cryonics arrangements (such as a long time friend with cryonics arrangements). Last, but not least, cryonics organizations should further expand their methods of determining high risk cases and improve communication with existing members. Although it is not possible, nor reasonable, to expect from cryonics organizations that they can avoid [a bad outcome] in every single case, there is an urgent need to beef up membership tracking and response capabilities."
Link: http://www.depressedmetabolism.com/2009/06/10/buried-alive/