(MF) Oregon currently has a Death with
Dignity statute, which, in some cases, is used by dying patients to
control their own end-of-life care. The law currently allows for
cryonic preservation only after the person is legally dead. What
are the legal issues surrounding a lawsuit by a person with a
terminal illness wanting to be cryonically preserved rather than
waiting for the disease to run its course? Is this just a matter
of time?
(MF) If only a
person's brain is cyronically preserved and she is given
a new body at the time she
is revived, is she still the same
person? Does she still have control over her assets, etc
that belonged to her before she was preserved?
(MF) What about
inheritance rights? Most inheritance rights terminate at a
person's death, or a will may allow for a person's issue to
inherit his share. If he were cryonically preserved for 200
years, could he then sue his issue for his inheritance or a portion of
it when he was revived?
(MF) What if a
person were sentenced to life in prison, and that
person chooses to be cryonically preserved when she
dies? If she is revived, would she have to
continue to serve the life sentence in prison? How could the law
be changed to handle these kinds of situations?
(RS) In cryonic
suspension, you can choose to freeze your whole body or just your
"neuro" or brain. If you choose to freeze just your brain, they will
build you a new body when you are revived. Mr. Merkle suggested they
would have a catalog of sorts, where you could choose what kind of body
you want, a kind of "cosmetic surgery to the extreme." What legal
implications will this have in terms of people changing the way they
look altogether, or maybe appropriating the likeness of another whose
looks they prefer?
(RS) It is a
possibility that your brain can be revived "in silico" or as a computer
model version of yourself. This version will be able to talk with the
doctors and other people with all your same personality and memory.
What is the status of this computer model of yourself? Is this model
legally a person? Can it act for you legally (ie: making contracts)?
(RS) If a person is
cryonically frozen but their spouse is not frozen, and the unfrozen
spouse remarries, what will be the legal status if the frozen spouse is
revived? Has the unfrozen spouse committed polygamy, since she will now
have two husbands?
(CC) Who pays for
the revived person to be re-adapted to society upon revival? If society
changes drastically while they were frozen and they are unable to adapt
will they become a drain on society creating in essence a new welfare
class? Will mal-adjustment be a new defense for crimes?
(CC) Assuming cryonics
will revive the dead can wrongful death actions be brought against the
cryonics lab if the liquid nitrogen is drained and thaws the bodies?
What if someone was to deliberately unfreeze the cryonically preserved
is this the equivalent of murder? Would resurrection become a right of
every person and if so how could the legal system calculate and
compensate for the loss of this right?
(CC) Considering
cryonics is still an experiment what are the consequences today if
someone was wrongfully thawed?
(CC) If someone is
murdered and then frozen are the consequences to the murderer less
because the victim can have another life? If the murderer is still in
jail when the person is revived should they be released from prison?
(CC) Would the
consequences be different for killing someone by shooting them in the
heart and by shooting them in the brain, because cryonics canít
be used on the brain dead?
(PYS) With whom does
Alcor/CI/LEF make a contract,
the deceased while alive or until they die a second time? If there is
an overt breach, i.e. the company picks up the body and just throws
it in a dumpster, who has standing to sue? May the patient's heirs
sue? Can they sue as third party beneficiaries, or will they need to
sue in tort on a survival action, or on an emotional distress theory?
What if a third party was counting on a patient's death for some
reason, and the company delays it via cryonics. Cause of
action?
CC: Colleen Coen
MF: Maura Fleming
RS: Rebecca Stuart