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more pervasive than the original cause of death.
There were legal problems, too. Amazingly, all these ap-peared to be fully
disclosed in the literature.
The Phoenix had been both plaintiff and defendant in numerous
lawsuits against individuals and government agencies. Many of these
lawsuits were presented in excruciating minutiae, almost as a badge of honor.
No laws had been written with cryonics in mind, and thus regulatory and
bureaucratic entanglements were common. Another obvious problem was that no
cryonic procedure could begin until a patient had been pronounced legally
dead. Often hospitals and other medical authorities refused coop-eration. Some
even interfered with the Phoenix during such emergencies.
An interesting case described by one wealthy member per-tained to his
Siamese cat. The animal, having been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer,
had been immediately anes-thetized, flown to Phoenix, treated, and frozen
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alive. The en-tire procedure was described with scientific precision.
This feline received what could only have been considered as ideal treatment.
The irony, the cat s owner had written, is that no terminal human being
subjugated to today s laws could ever expect sus-pension under such perfect
conditions. For example, if I had a similar brain cancer, before I could be
frozen I would have to wait until the tumors had sufficiently ravaged my brain
to cause death, rendering my prospects for identity-preservation ex-tremely
doubtful.
There was also a financial statement in the packet. The Phoenix was not
particularly well-funded, and decidedly stingy in employee compensation. David
Perez s gross salary was only $13,000 per year, and the president of the
organization, Dr. Alyson Shockley, earned barely double that amount. Evidently
they were not in it for the money.
Finally, Ben read about the Phoenix s emergency transport teams and
suspension procedures.
Although their scientists and technicians were portrayed as zealously
dedicated to protecting the structural integrity of every patient s brain,
the descriptions of individual cases were less than reassuring.
Five of the Phoenix s fourteen current suspendees had died suddenly, resulting
in severe, protracted, and
most likely irreversible ischemia cell damage from inadequate blood flow.
These pa-tients had been suspended anyway, but their prognosis for
suc-cessful revival appeared at best bleak.
But the very fact that the Phoenix s own literature painted an often gloomy
picture made them seem more trustworthy. It was apparent to Ben that this was
no scam. Right or wrong, these people were true believers.
According to the literature, most members bought a life in-surance policy to
fund their suspensions, even those who could afford to pay in advance. The
Phoenix charged $75,000 for a full-body freeze and storage, or $30,000 for
neurosuspen-sion, that is, only the head: expensive, but the fee
covered maintenance in perpetuity. And by purchasing a $75,000 life in-surance
policy to cover the onetime fee, at his age a full-body would only set him
back about $900 per year $600 for the in-surance policy, plus $300 annual
membership dues.
In real money, that was a hell of a lot less than seventy-five grand. No
wonder most everyone funded with insurance, Ben mused.
He also understood the logic behind neurosuspensions: Any science that could
restore a dead brain to life could easily re-place the rest of the body
as well. But still, he had trouble with the concept of discarding
his own body. If he did it at all, he d opt for the full-body suspension.
Now Ben was amazed; he was actually considering this!
Most of his mind doubted the potential efficacy of cryostasis revival. But
Ben s natural hopefulness gradually overtook his skepticism. Sure it was a
gamble, but the payoff was huge.
The future might be incredible, he thought. In most ways, the average person
already lived better than royalty had just a few hundred years before. Hell, a
century ago even kings had often suffered from head lice.
He considered all the advancements that the richest people in the 1800s
lacked, all taken for granted today: instant long-distance communication,
rapid travel, mobilized fire and po-lice departments, weather forecasts,
indoor plumbing, contact lenses, many forms of insurance, air-conditioning,
antibiotics, painless dentistry. The list seemed to go on forever. Imagine
living without those things!
And what would the world be like a few hundred years hence?
Inexpensive hypersonic travel, powerful watch-sized com-puters, more uniform
and reliable justice, perfect health for all, machines to do all mindless
work, more efficient and individu-alized education.
People might pity those who had to withstand life in the twentieth
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