Options for Preservation IDs/Bracelets

[AndyMcKenzie]

Some enrollees are interested in having identifiers so that first responders and others know that they are enrolled for preservation services, if they suffer unexpected legal death.

This is a useful idea. Here is a post by Carrie Radomski on the importance of this: https://biostasis.substack.com/p/a-call ... e-cryonics. Bracelets are thought to be easier to notice than necklaces for EMS.

Sticky Jewelry Medical ID seems to be a good option, at least for now: https://www.stickyj.com/. This website was recommended by Rudi Hoffman.

Because people will want custom options, the easiest idea is to write some recommended text and have people order these themselves. Enrollees are of course welcome to edit this text or write their own if they prefer. It is their bodies after all.

Here are some of the most important things, from my guess of the most to least important:

1. Our phone number: 503-585-2781

2. That our phone number should be called immediately/ASAP if the person is dead or seriously injured.

3. That our phone number can be called 24/7.

4. That the person does not want autopsy -- something like “DO NOT AUTOPSY.” In my personal opinion, I can’t stress how important it is for people who prefer high-quality brain preservation to attempt to avoid the medicolegal death investigation process, to the maximum extent possible. Writing this probably won’t really help much, but I guess we should at least try.

5. That the person intends to donate their body/brain to medical research/brain preservation/cryonics.

6. That if the person has been declared legally dead, the head should be cooled with ice.

7. That the person should not be frozen. Freezing damage to the brain is thought to be very damaging. We wish to avoid this.

Below, I list a few different options that people could buy with different recommended text.

Note that we use sometimes use the term “cryonics” rather than “brain preservation” because (a) it’s shorter and (b) people are more likely to know what it means.

As with everything else in this field, people can also get carried away with this and get paralysis by analysis, rather than just starting with the basics. Step one is filling out our paperwork to enroll with us. The later steps are figuring out all this other stuff.

Apple Watch ID Tag

Many people have Apple Watches these days. I have one.

This ID tag can fit onto an Apple Watch sports band. That way people don’t need to wear another bracelet.

https://www.stickyj.com/product/apple-w ... ll-sea6004

Here is one recommendation for the text. It probably only makes sense to engrave the front.

Cryonics

Body Donor

DO NOT AUTOPSY

If Dead/Injured

Call ASAP, 24/7

503-585-2781

Small bracelet

Here is an option for a stainless steel stretchy medical bracelet.

https://www.stickyj.com/product/stainle ... s-cal1028c

Here is one recommendation for the text. It probably only makes sense to engrave the front.

Oregon Cryonics

503-585-2781

Available 24/7

Large bracelet

With the large stainless-steel tag, enrollees need to buy a separate strap to hold it around the wrist. Per their website, the two below options apparently work (although I haven’t verified this):

https://www.stickyj.com/product/large-s ... tag-cr1914

https://www.stickyj.com/product/sm-genu ... nch-yf1076

Here is one recommendation for the text. It probably only makes sense to engrave the front.

Cryonics Donor

DO NOT AUTOPSY

If dead/injured

Call: 503-585-2781

Immediately, ASAP

Available 24/7

If legally dead,

Cool head with ice

Dog Tag Necklace

There are a lot of different options available for different sizes. Here is one:

https://www.stickyj.com/product/engrave ... es-aa3317c

Here is one possible recommendation for the text. One option is to just engrave the same information on both sides to keep things simple.

Body Donor

NO AUTOPSY

If dead call

503-585-2781

ASAP, 24/7

Wallet card

https://www.stickyj.com/product/engrave ... d-cba2007c

You have a lot of space here to fill out information. 8 lines with 50 characters each. You can engrave one side or both sides. One side is probably sufficient. If you choose both sides, I would probably just provide the same information to keep it simple.

Here is one recommendation for the text:

IMPORTANT MEDICAL INFORMATION

The bearer of this card has arranged to donate their

body to Oregon Brain Preservation

after legal death for research in brain preservation.

Please contact 503-585-2781 immediately if the bearer is

seriously injured or deceased. If legal death is

pronounced, cool the body and especially cover the head

with ice. DO NOT autopsy or freeze.

Obvious caveats

Some of these tags might cause skin irritation or other problems. Some options will work better for some people than others.

Daily check in call service

For individuals who live alone and are closer to death, you might consider having a service that can call you every day, and then call emergency contacts if you do not respond. This way you would not go for longer than a day or so of legal death without being discovered.

There are a lot of options for this service. I’m not sure what the best one is. They are probably all similar. It also depends on how technologically savvy the person is (e.g., whether they can use a smart phone app).

For individuals living close to our facility in Salem, then it is possible we could be a part of this process during workdays. Please let us know if you are interested in this.

Questions

If you have any questions, feel free to ask us.

[MaximilianKohler]

Daily check in call service

For individuals who live alone and are closer to death, you might consider having a service that can call you every day, and then call emergency contacts if you do not respond. This way you would not go for longer than a day or so of legal death without being discovered.

This is NOT a good method.

The CI check-in app is much better, but we need a service that can take texts from it and call the cops. See:
Monitoring and rapid response to Prevent Unattended Death viewtopic.php?f=2&t=147

[AndyMcKenzie]

Thanks for pointing out this other option. I appreciate you working on this. It is clearly a major issue, as the recent case report from Alcor shows yet again (it also shows other major problems for our field).

https://www.alcor.org/docs/alcor-case-report-a-1051.pdf

One key quote:

1. Summary
Information was derived from multiple sources and was all converted to Mountain Standard Time (MST).
For de-identification, dates are not shown. T-0 represents the date of cardiac arrest, T-X represents
occurrences before T-0, and T+X represents occurrences following T-0.
A-1051 was a 69-year-old member with neuro cryopreservation arrangements. This was a
postmortem notification and, therefore, a cryopreservation without cryoprotection (a straightfreeze procedure). No invasive autopsy was performed. The member was pronounced legally
deceased in Oregon at 17:13 hrs on T+7 days in July of 2024.
After recovery, the patient was transported via airline to Alcor for cryogenic cooldown. The
patient arrived at Alcor at 19:48 hrs on T+11 days. The cryogenic cooldown was initiated on
T+11 days at 19:51 hrs and terminated on T+17days at 11:13 hrs. The patient was transferred to
long-term care at liquid nitrogen temperature at 12:06 hrs on T+37 hrs.
2. Member Assessment
This member was not on the Alcor Watchlist, but Alcor’s Director of Membership Services had
spoken to the member 2 to 3 weeks prior to the notification of the member’s death. The member
had stated at that time that there were no health problems.
T+7 days
The member had not been heard from in a few days, so the landlord ordered a welfare check to
the apartment. The police found the patient severely decomposed and handed the patient over to
the custody of the medical examiner (ME). The ME estimated cardiac arrest to have been at least
7 days prior to the patient being found. Since there is no estimate of the time, for this report the
estimated time of cardiac arrest will be at 12:00 hrs on T-0.
T+8 days
The landlord notified Alcor of the situation at 17:18 hours. The Alcor COO attempted to reach
the medical examiner’s office; however, they were already closed for the day. She then
attempted to reach the funeral home (to which the landlord believed the patient had been
released). However, they did not have anyone by that name in their system. The COO then
notified the MRD of the situation at 18:34 hrs.
T+9 days
The MRD also tried to reach the ME, but they did not answer, so a voicemail was left explaining
the matter. The MRD called again the next morning, but they were closed for the holiday
(Fourth of July).
T+10 days
The MRD called the ME at 07:30 hrs and left another voicemail requesting a call back as soon
as possible. At 09:18 hrs, the ME returned the call and relayed the following information:
The patient was severely decomposed, so cardiac arrest was now estimated to be 1-2 weeks prior
to being found. The cause of death was still to be determined pending the results of a toxicology
report as there were drugs and paraphernalia found in the apartment. No invasive autopsy would
be performed.

Another key quote:

8. Discussion
Patient Recovery
The team arrived in Oregon at 22:30 hrs. Other flights into a larger airport were available with a
two-hour drive to the patient’s location that would have gotten the team there a couple hours
sooner. However, the funeral home was not willing to allow the DART team into the facility
after 17:00 hrs. Therefore, the flight without the two-hour drive was booked.
The patient experienced warm ischemia for an unknown time until found. The medical examiner
(ME) mentioned the patient was found in an apartment where there was either no air
conditioning or the air conditioning was turned off. The patient was kept between -2°C and 4°C
both in the ME morgue and also in the funeral home. Neither were willing to place the patient on
either water ice or dry ice when requested, even if it could be delivered to them.
This member was found in a state of severe decomposition. Maggots were present in every
orifice. The skin was so decomposed it would slough off when touched. Because of this, no
temperature probes were able to be placed, in fear it would severely damage the patient or
expose the DART team members to biological hazard.