Download This PaperAn Open Letter to Physicians in Death-with-Dignity States (The Case of a Terminally Ill Cryonicist)
Death And Anti-Death, Volume 14: Four Decades After Michael Polanyi, Three Centuries After G. W. Leibniz [Editor: Charles Tandy, Ph.D.] [Pages 305-312] [Publisher: Ria University Press] [Copyright 2016] [Distributor: Ingram] [Hardback ISBN: 978-1-934297-25-4] [Softback ISBN: 978-1-934297-26-1]
8 Pages Posted: 8 Feb 2017 Last revised: 21 Feb 2017
Date Written: December 25, 2016
Abstract
Honoring someone’s "last wishes" is seen in our culture (and in many other cultures) as a benevolent duty. Here I look at the case of a terminally ill cryonicist residing in one of the death-with-dignity states of the USA. A particular cryonicist may not be a cryonics expert. Likewise, a particular physician may not be a cryonics expert. Hence, a rationale for this Open Letter is that I seek to educate both the physician and the cryonicist with respect to cryonics. For example, most cryonicists and most physicians are unaware that all of the biomedical technical papers about cryonics in the PubMed literature speak favorably of its eventual success.
Keywords: Aid in dying, Biomedical ethics, Cryonics, Cryonics patient, Cryonics and science, Cryonic, Cryonic hibernation, Suspended animation, Cryogenics
JEL Classification: I00
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation