Vitrification...an ice-free process designed to halt body chemistry indefinitely

Imagine if you had a “pause” button and at the precise moment in the dying process you could press it and resume at a later date, say 50 or 100 years in the future?

As simplistic as it sounds, that’s what some people are paying big bucks for –putting their faith (and their bodies) in a scientific “re-animation” experiment known as cryonics.

So far, no one has been reversed to testify of cryonics’ success, but that hasn’t stopped companies from marketing their services.

In the United States there are five predominant organizations offering cryonics services ranging from whole body, head and brain-only preservation. Members (living customers) and patients (anatomical donors) number  approximately 800-900 and just under 100, respectively, at two of the nation’s companies — Alcor and Cryonics Institute (CI).

Fees range from $28,000-155,000 for full body preservation to $9,000-80,000 for brain-only preservation. Yearly memberships range from $96 to nearly $400.

But is it worth it?

“The goal of cryonics is to overcome serious illness by preserving and protecting life,” according to Alcor’s website. “The intent is that technologically advanced scientific procedures and nanotechnology will one day be available to revive cryopreserved humans and restore them to good health.”

Generally all cryonics organizations seek to intervene in the dying process — to preserve life at the earliest point after a person is declared legally dead. From that moment, field staff begin a process to prevent as little damage to the patient’s brain as possible. This may include artificially restoring blood circulation and other life support techniques.

A variety of inhibitor medications are administered to the patient through intravenous lines to maintain blood pressure, reduce brain oxygen consumption and provide protection to the brain from injury.

After being stabilized, the patient is transported to a cryonics facility for further measures including a controlled reduction in body temperature and storage under liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -196 degrees Celsius for long-term care.

When science catches up — no one knows the precise date — patients would then be revived or resuscitated to a healthy state.

While cryonics has those who believe strongly in the future benefits of donor preservation, it also has critics.

Once such person, Larry Johnson, has a forthcoming book about his experiences in the cryonics world and with the company Alcor. Johnson, a former Chief Operation Officer of Alcor, has been in hiding for the past six years over allegations he made as a company whistleblower.

Big 3 News contacted Alcor to request an interview for this article but staff was unavailable as of press time.

In his manuscript, “Frozen: My Journey Into The World of Cryonics, Deception and Death,” Johnson portrays a particularly graphic scene with one of Alcor’s more famous patients, Hall of Fame baseball player Ted Williams who died at the age of 83 in July 2002.

According to an October 2, 2009 news report published in the Chicago Sun-Times, Johnson alleges technicians with no medical certification photographed and removed the head of the baseball player with “crude” equipment.

“Williams’ severed head was then frozen, and even used for batting practice by a technician trying to dislodge it from a tuna fish can,” the Sun-Times reported.

ABC News’ “Good Morning America” reported in a September 3, 2003 broadcast interview with Johnson that the company improperly stored Williams’ body.

“This, to me, was sickening,” Johnson said during the interview. “This isn’t what Ted Williams wanted. I’ve never actually seen his body, I’ve seen his head.”

Johnson alleged Williams’ brain was subjected to fluctuating storage temperature changes and suffered numerous fractures or crackings.

“He was an American hero, true blue, and now he lays frozen in Scottsdale, Arizona and his body has been desecrated,” Johnson said.

The New York Daily News claims in an October 2, 2009 report that Ted Williams’ remains became Alcorian patient “A-1949″. A search of patients listed on Alcor’s website reveals case A-1949 was logged on July 5, 2002 — the day Williams died — but ironically does not indicate what preservation method was used. All other Alcor cases indicate whole body, neuro or brain preservation, and many have accompanying case documents.

While Williams’ case history, and ultimately details of what happened to his remains, are not available, his son’s appears to be.

John-Henry, who died on March 6, 2004 after a short battle with leukemia, appears to be listed as Alcorian patient “A-2063” which was logged on March 6, 2004 with the description “head and rest of body stored separately” (patients are generally not identified by name due to medical privacy laws.).

CNN reported a family controversy existed over the final resting place of the elder Williams, with a sibling saying her dad wanted to be cremated. Son John-Henry insisted his father wanted to be cryopreserved.

Frank Brothers, a caretaker of the baseball legend recalled a conversation between the father and son.

“I’d just got done making Ted breakfast, and John-Henry came up, and I was making him breakfast and he brought up to his dad about when you die how about we freeze your body, cryogenics,” the caretaker said. “Ted told him, ‘Are you crazy?’ He said, “Well, dad, we don’t have to do your whole body, we can just cut your head off and do your head.’ He said, ‘What, are you nuts?’ Ted was animated about it, he didn’t want to be frozen.”

Alcor denies any wrongdoing by the company or any of its employees in the elder Williams matter.

“The Alcor Life Extension Foundation denies the outrageous allegations against it that have appeared in the media this week,” according to an October 2, 2009 post on the company’s website. “Alcor especially denies mistreating the remains of baseball great Ted Williams.”

Alcor goes on to say that Johnson was not employed by the company when the baseball Hall-of-Famer was cryopreserved.

“Johnson’s previous attempts to profit from sensational and unfounded allegations against Alcor recently resulted in a court order prohibiting him from making further statements about Alcor.”

As the result of a complaint filed by Alcor against Johnson and another defendant, an Arizona Superior Court Judge issued a July 2009 default judgment  (No. CV2009-050506) which is posted on the company’s website.

In it, Johnson is prevented from “publishing or communicating any information about Alcor to third parties” that would disparage the company, and is ordered to return all documents that are deemed to be property of the company. The judge also awarded Alcor damages and court costs in the amount of $6,500 to be paid by each of the defendants.

According to Alcor Executive Director Jennifer Chapman, the company is “actively pursuing” litigation regarding the allegations.

Editor’s Note: On Wednesday, October 7, 2009, Big 3 News was contacted by Alcor Life Extension Foundation in response to an interview request. We were directed by Jennifer Chapman, Executive Director, to a full press statement on the company’s website. The statement contains a comprehensive response to recent media allegations, including an ABC Nightline investigation, and can be viewed here.

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