Alcor Life Extension Foundation Attempts To Fulfill Wishes of Colorado Springs Woman SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA
On February 9, 2010, Mary Robbins was pronounced legally dead. Ms. Robbins was a long-term member of Alcor Life Extension Foundation. Alcor is a science-based state-of-the-art research facility in Scottsdale, Arizona. Alcor preserves bodies at ultra-cold temperatures to achieve biostasis at a temperature at which all cell deterioration stops.
Prior to death, Ms. Robbins made a valid, written donation of her body to Alcor pursuant to the Colorado Disposition of Last Remains Act and Uniform Anatomical Gift Act. Ms. Robbins wanted to be cryopreserved, and she made her long-standing intentions known for years. Additionally, she made financial arrangements to pay for cryopreservation using a $50,000 annuity with Alcor as the beneficiary.
Ms. Robbins’s family is now claiming that her long-standing request to be cryopreserved was changed shortly before she died. However, Alcor has yet to receive any written documentation changing Ms. Robbins’s wish to be cryopreserved.
Eric Bentley, the Colorado attorney for Alcor stated, “Alcor simply wants to fulfill the documented wishes of Ms. Robbins to be cryopreserved. Ms. Robbins was competent when she made arrangements to be cryopreserved, she expressed that intention in writing, and Alcor wants to carry out her wishes.”
Alcor intends to state its case in court pursuant to legally binding documents, the governing statutes, and the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act. Ms. Robbins is being maintained at the temperature of dry ice (-79 degrees Celsius) at a Colorado Springs funeral home pending resolution of the matter.
False Statements
It has been alleged in news media stories that Alcor requires invasive medical interventions to be performed prior to legal death, including placement of tubes in the nose and throat, and administration of medications. This is incorrect. Alcor requires no such interventions. Alcor does not participate in the medical care of patients, or perform any medical interventions prior to legal death. The objective of Alcor’s procedures is to limit injury to the brain after legal pronouncement of death.
About the Alcor Life Extension Foundation
The Alcor Life Extension Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1972, is the world leader in cryonics, and cryonics technology. Cryonics is the science of using ultra-cold temperatures to cryopreserve humans. The intent is that technologically advanced scientific procedures may one day be able to revive cryopreserved humans and restore them to good health. Alcor performed its first human cryopreservation in 1976. Since then, Alcor has engaged in long-term care of cryopreserved patients as well as cryopreservation. Among Alcor’s scientific achievements is the use of advanced cryoprotectant formulas capable of vitrification, which enables cryopreservation to take place with reduced damage to the patient. Today, Alcor has more than 900 members and 90 cryopreserved patients. The public is welcome to attend regularly scheduled tours of the Alcor facility. For more information about Alcor and cryonics, visit www.alcor.org.
