Oh you'll love it Sparky. Stick with me for a bit my friend.

A quick update on the Alcor/Johnson saga.

Word on the street says Johnson is on the war path. I would say his prediction in his book is 100% accurate. He made a statement in his book that in lieu of doing the right thing by correcting their behavior, Alcor would instead file many frivolous lawsuits against him during the months following the release of his book. This must be true. According to a cryonics chat board Alcor has file lawsuits in both New York and in Arizona. In doing so Alcor’s attorney knowingly submitted documents to both courts without editing out Johnson personal information such as his social security number and date of birth. I verified this information on the cryonics chat board called “Cold Filter.” Someone who calls himself “FD” posted a link to Johnson’s information. I am sure this was to terrorize Johnson. See link:

[www.network54.com]

A little birdie recently told me that Johnson is now “pulling out all stops.” Because Alcor refuses to back off of Johnson and continues to hound him, rumor has it that Johnson has documented evidence of 20+ cases where Alcor and another cryonics company called Suspended Animation have performed their unregulated procedures with untrained/nonmedical/nonlicensed personal within the walls of many hospitals. As I understand it, this spring Johnson plans to present his concerns to various hospitals and healthcare executive committees and associations. Because of Johnson position and background within the medical communities, I am sure Johnson will not have a problem bending the ear of a few hospital executives. Can you imagine the look on hospital CEO’s faces when Johnson goes into detail of what has been going on within their facilities? This will surely result in a ban against the practice of cryonics within hospitals and other healthcare facilities. If I were Alcor I'd be trying to kiss and make up with Johnson instead of antagonizing him at this point.

The same little birdie has informed me that Johnson will be releasing the rest of his “secret recordings” to the media during the upcoming months and that several individuals after reading his book have come forward to collaborate some of Johnson’s accusations. One individual who use to work next door to Alcor claims he and his coworkers have witnessed Alcor dumping human blood behind their facility. According to the individual, after the dumping, Alcor employees would use a pressure washer to wash the blood down a storm drain. This individual claims to actually have pictures of Alcor employees committing this act.

And…here is the BIG BOMB…Another individual who once worked for a guy name Saul Kent (owner of Alcor and Suspended Animation) and someone named Bill Faloon and someone named Ruddell in Florida has contacted Johnson about some sort of criminal activity that they (Kent, Faloon and Ruddell) were involved in and who has evidence of such. I’ve been told that this particular individual has presented his evidence to Johnson who will soon be going straight to the national media. I have a feeling the ground in Florida and in Arizona is about to quake.

Out yesterday is yet another story where Alcor is trying to sue another family this time in Colorado Springs, CO over a dead body. Yes, it’s all about money AGAIN. Remember last year Alcor tried to sue an Iowa family by the name of Richardson over their brother’s remains that were already buried for several months? I am happy to say the judge laughed Alcor out of court on that one, but apparently they have not learned their lesson. Here is a recent article on Alcor’s latest, heartless and tasteless stunt:

[www.kktv.com]

The authorities need to get a handle on these clowns.

I will report back here as I hear more.

Anon1

Nice work! I guess Hell Alcor is freezing over...

That's funny Sparky. But I think Alcor is beginning to thaw due to all of the media heat.

From what I gather by reading all of these cryonics blogs it looks like Johnson will become a martyr at the hands of Alcor. Johnson will become a victim supporting a very concerning cause. By Alcor victimizing Johnson they will make him more powerful and influential. Can you imagine if Johnson were to approach the media with the news that Alcor and their attorney purposely leaked his personal information? That would definitely raise some eyebrows. I do not know if Johnson has much to lose at this point, but whatever happens, I am sure he will get his moneys worth and than some. I can foresee Johnson getting involved in future cases like the Richardson and Robbins debacle and lending support the families and their attorneys.

As a side note, they are still fighting in the "Cold Filter" room. Some pretty heavy discussion about Propofol (Michael Jackson drug.) What business do the cryonics companies have with a tranquilizer when they claim to be only working on dead people? Inquiring minds want to know.

Propofol discussion:

[www.network54.com]

Very interesting indeed. Here is something else that may or may not be in the scam-realm of Alcor:

"Scientists warn of stem cell storage scams"

[www.breitbart.com]

This is a pretty sad turn of events. When will someone step up and put an end to this crap?

[www.kktv.com]


A hearing underway that could determine what happens to the body of a Colorado Springs woman will be continued Monday, March 1. The battle is between the woman's daughter and a lab that hopes to one day bring the woman back to life.

Friday, both sides presented witnesses. The family of the dead woman Mary Robbins testified Friday afternoon, including her daughter, Darlene Robbins.

Magistrate Barbara Hughes decided after hearing arguments to continue the proceedings on Monday, March 1.

Earlier Friday Judith Richard a registered nurse with Pikes Peak hospice answered questions. Richard testified that Mary Robbins requested to be admitted to the hospice because she was in so much pain, but due to her end of life wishes filed with Alcor they could not admit her.

The body of Mary Robbins has been stored at a Colorado Springs mortuary since she died from cancer on February 9th. Mary's body now lies in a special container until the final outcome of the hearing.

Mary's daughter Darlene Robbins said, "They have been going to the Shrine of Remembrance and packing my mom's head in dry ice."

Darlene went on to say the family was grieving and preparing to cremate Mary when an Arizona non-profit stepped in, claiming the body was theirs.

Darlene adds, "If they get her body, it's going to destroy me. It's just going to be awful."

Mary signed a contract with Alcor Life Extension Foundation back in 2006 agreeing to donate her body to the non-profit. She purchased a $50,000 annuity naming Alcor as the beneficiary. That's how she would pay for the process of having her brain preserved using an ultra-cold process called cryonics.

Her dream: to someday be restored to good health when technology advances.

But Darlene says Mary changed her mind shortly before she died and signed a new form naming her family as the beneficiary, not Alcor.

"When the reality of death came and the pain and the saying goodbye... she realized that that wasn't what she wanted."

Darlene says Mary didn't have a copy of her Alcor contract so she didn't know how to cancel it. When Alcor showed up at the mortuary to get Mary's remains, the family hired attorney Robert Scranton.

Scranton says, "They only want the head, that's what was contracted for was the head."

Scranton says he'll not only try to prove that Mary changed her mind, but that it's too late for Alcor to carry out the cryonics process now.

"What's occurred since her death will not work and it's too late under their protocols so I don't know how that plays into this... that what's being done to the body is actually against their own protocols."

Scranton also believes Alcor's practices may not fly in Colorado. "It may be that the court can rule that even though they have a right to it, that what they want to do to the body is against Colorado public policy."

11 News got on line, and found the story of an 81-year-old Iowa man whose family battled with Alcor last year. Like Mary, Orville Richardson also signed a contract with the foundation. Alcor asked a judge to have his body exhumed five months after he was buried.

In that case, the judge ruled in the family's favor, saying loved ones had the right to decide his final resting place. Orville's sister says she's been following Mary's case, knowing what the family is going through, and is praying for them.

Court Gives Custody of Grandmother's Frozen Head to Cryonics Company
Mary Robbins' Family Vows to Appeal, Wants Body Left Intact
By SARAH NETTER

A Colorado probate judge has ruled that custody of a deceased grandmother's head will go to an Arizona-based cryonics company, not her family.

The legal battle over Mary Robbins' head has been building since her death on Feb. 9 from cancer. Her children, led by her daughter, Darlene Robbins, lost their argument today that their mother's contract with the non-profit Alcor Life Extension Foundation was voided in the days before her death.

Mary Robbins signed a contract with Alcor in 2006, giving the group the right to freeze her head in hopes of bringing it back to life some time in the future.

The family had argued that Mary Robbins changed her mind in her final days, but the court said she never put her request to cancel the contract in writing. That is required by Colorado law, the court said as part of its decision.

The family says it will appeal the judge's ruling, which, according to the Pueblo Chieftan, includes a 72-hour stay for Robbins' children to formally take the case to the Colorado Court of Appeals.

Alcor, which is based in Arizona, is the same company that took possession of baseball great Ted Williams' head after a legal battle between his children over whether Williams really wanted his head frozen. The company was also accused of mishandling and damaging Williams' head once it had custody.

"We are very pleased that the written desires of Ms. Robbins will be fulfilled," Alcor attorney Eric Bentley said in a written statement released shortly after the hearing. "This case has always been about the written intentions of Ms. Robbins."

Robert Scranton, a lawyer for Darlene Robbins, said before today's ruling that he took on the case after receiving a frantic phone call from the funeral home that Alcor representatives were looking to collect the woman's head.

He argued in court that Robbins, a 71-year-old retired nurse and grandmother of 10, verbally dissolved her agreement with the company in the days before she died, realizing she could not, in her weakened state, follow through with the protocols required by Alcor.

He questioned whether the original agreement, though bearing a valid signature, was even legal, calling it "vague."

"It's kind of this general idea that we'll freeze you, we'll do the best we can," Scranton said. "It's not like freezing a chicken to thaw it out later and cook it."

Clifford Wolff, an attorney for Alcor, told ABCNews.com last month that Colorado law is very clear -- all anatomical gifts must be spelled out in writing and must be canceled in writing. He insisted the company was battling with the Robbins family to preserve their mother's wishes, not to recoup any financial losses.

"The issue of money is not the issue in this lawsuit," he said. "The issue is fulfilling the written desire of Ms. Robbins."

Alcor has repeatedly asked the Robbins family for any sort of written proof that Robbins changed her mind, but never received any such documents, he said.

"What they want with the body, I have no idea," Darlene Robbins said last month. "It has to just be for money. I can't think of any other reason why they would pursue her body."

Scranton said Robbins had long planned on freezing her head in hopes technology would one day allow her to be revived. When she signed up with Alcor in 2006, she took out a $50,000 annuity and named Alcor as the beneficiary to cover the harvesting and storage.

"She was always fascinated by those types of things," he said. "I think it's been said that she had a desire that if she could live again she would come back as a scientist or a researcher."

Robbins was diagnosed with cervical cancer in December and tests showed that the cancer had spread to most of her vital organs, but not her brain.

She began radiation and signed up for a cancer-treatment study. But too weak to participate in the treatment, Robbins resigned herself to the fact that she was going to lose her battle and contacted Alcor.

Darlene Robbins said Alcor told her mother that they wanted her to move to Phoenix to die, something Robbins did not want to do. She asked that Alcor send personnel to assist her, Darlene Robbins said, but Alcor suggested her hospice carry out the lengthy list of after-death protocols that the company requires to prep the body for freezing, including administering a cocktail of medications and performing CPR once death has already occurred to keep oxygen flowing.

"Hospice said it was not within their power to do that. They didn't have the medications," Darlene Robbins said. "It's against their charter, which is to help people die with dignity and peace."

Two days before she died, Robbins changed the beneficiary on her annuity policy so the money would go to her family, an act witnessesed by family and non-family, Scranton said. The lawyer said that others heard Robbins say that she no longer wished for her head to be frozen.

Darlene Robbins said she contacted Alcor to let them know her mother had changed her mind and "they hung up on me."

Alcor, Scranton said, rejected Robbins' verbal cancellation of the contract, "saying oral revocations don't count. That it has to be in writing."

Besides battling the Robbins family over the contract to preserve her head, Wolf said recently that Alcor could not rule out a legal effort to have the original $50,000 annuity reinstated as well.

Once the family realized Alcor was going to fight them for their mother's head, they agreed to allow the head to be packed in ice, while the rest of the body was refrigerated per normal post-mortem storage. The body remains intact.

But even that is questionable, Scranton said, because the ice wasn't brought in until about 24 hours after Robbins had died.

By Alcor's own list of lengthy procedures to ensure proper freezing after death, Darlene Robbins said, Mary Robbins' body is no longer viable because it was not prepared according to those guidelines.

"What they are going to do with the body I have no idea," she said. ""What are they going to do, put her in a box and just drive her down to Arizona?"

Wolff said that even though the company's preferred preservation techniques were not followed in the hours after Robbins death, the company's scientists have said cryopreservation is still possible.

"She's been on dry ice at a super-cooled temperature, which allows for cryopreservation," he said.

Alcor and the whole idea of cryonics has been mired in controversy for years. The company was the subject of the 2009 book "Frozen: My Journey Into the World of Cryonics, Deception and Death," by former Alcor employee Larry Johnson.

Johnson charged that Alcor employes whacked Williams' head with a monkey wrench like they were hitting a baseball.

Last year, Johnson told "Nightline" that he was horrified to have watched Alcor employees in the operating room, working on a deceased client.

"It was barbaric ... the third suspension that I witnessed, they actually used a hammer and a chisel," he said. "I actually witnessed them remove her head with a chisel and a hammer."

Alcor has denounced Johnson's interview with "Nightline" and his book, calling his actions "inexcusable and indefensible" in a statement on the company Web site.

[abcnews.go.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2010 02:00PM by dwest.

Below is a comment from the [www.regulatecryonics.org] website about the incident in Colorado Springs.



CRC Comment :

This particular ordeal is only one of many that have involved the unregulated practice of cryonics. The CRC has stated several times in the past and will continue to say it over and over again, situations such as the Robbins case cry out for regulation. Whether cryonics companies are in the right or in the wrong, in cases like this, families are still getting hurt. With that said we have to ask, when will State and/or Federal lawmakers step up to begin the process of strict regulation of these companies? It is the CRC's opinion that cryonics companies should fall under regulation similar to the funeral industry. In closing we’d like to say that our hearts goes out to Darlene Robbins and her family and that we are truly sorry that they have had to experience this situation.

Case presentations involving cryonics companies practicing their unregulated "science" within licensed healthcare facilities are currently being developed and will be presented soon to several interested associations. All presentations will be made available on this website. Thank you for your interest.

Alcor's "Medical Director" Dr. Steve Harris, California Medical License #G 52760 recently admits to utilizing Propofol on their "members." He so arrogantly quotes:

"A conservative dose of propofol is 140 mg, you say. We give 200 mg. There you are. If there are any signs of awareness later, such as eyelid movement or even shivering (not a sign of awareness but certainly a sign of CNS activity), another equal dose is held in reserve. This is probably not likely to be necessary, given the fact that the patient is being cooled and not normally perfused for the duration of action of a single induction dose of propofol (at least 15 minutes and probably more)."

This is incredible that Harris, a physician, would openly admit to this online. Go to this link [www.network54.com] to see Harris's quote, before it is removed.

So if cryonics patients are already dead, why is Harris and cryonics officials concerned about "awareness", shivering and eyelid movement to the point that they have a dose of Propofol ready to inject? This is crazy!

Melody Maxim, who consistantly calls Harris out is shocked that he would open admit to utilizing Propofol. See Melody's post at: [www.network54.com]...

Sounds like he is admitting to murder.