DOCSLIB.ORG

PINTS for PRESS Business Park in Scottsdale, Arizona, Offers Two Types of “Cryonic Suspension” Services: Full-Body for $200,000, and APRIL 24 Head-Only for $80,000

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
PINTS for PRESS Business Park in Scottsdale, Arizona, Offers Two Types of “Cryonic Suspension” Services: Full-Body for $200,000, and APRIL 24 Head-Only for $80,000 COVER STORY THEFROZEN FIGHT FOR THE ONE SON’S MISSION TO MAKE HIS DAD WHOLE AGAIN BY TYLER HAYDEN Dr. Laurence Pilgeram didn’t believe in heaven, but HEAD he did believe in life after death. In 1990, at the age of 66, Pilgeram signed a contract with the Alcor Life Extension Foun- dation to freeze his body upon his death with the hope that, decades or centuries from now, medical science would resurrect him. Alcor, headquartered in a sand-colored PINTS FOR PRESS business park in Scottsdale, Arizona, offers two types of “cryonic suspension” services: full-body for $200,000, and APRIL 24 head-only for $80,000. It’s a bargain for Dr. Laurence Pilgeram a shot at immortality. Clients typically pay by signing over their life insurance policies. The head-only option, the company This article’s author, Tyler Hayden, will explains, is the most cost-effective way When Kurt demanded to to preserve a patient’s identity; using know why his father’s whole body COURTESY discuss the reporting and writing of this story future nanotechnology, a new hadn’t been preserved, he received conflicting with editor Matt Kettmann on Wednesday, body might be grown around accounts from Alcor, according to court records. First, the the brain. But Pilgeram never company said Laurence’s body had decayed beyond saving. Then, it April 24, 5:30 p.m., at Night Lizard liked the idea of “Neurocryo- claimed he hadn’t kept up with his yearly $525 membership dues. Finally, preservation,” his family has it suggested the technicians didn’t want to wait for the permit necessary Brewing Company in the Santa Barbara said, so he chose “Whole-Body to transport a full body across state lines. Independent’s third Pints for Press event. Cryopreservation” by initialing the Not satisfied with any of those answers and incensed by what he appropriate box in the contract with considered a dismissive attitude by Alcor throughout the process, Kurt Buy a pint and $1 goes to supporting his characteristically ornate hand- blocked the payout of his father’s life insurance and demanded the com- writing. He also requested that Alcor pany relinquish his head. Alcor refused and sued Kurt for the money; our journalism. freeze all of his remains, regardless of Kurt sued back. Thus began a tangled, four-year legal battle that will go any damage caused to them by trauma to trial in Santa Barbara Superior Court next year. or decomposition. The case has ballooned beyond the initial dispute, and now there’s See independent.com/pintsforpress. In 2015, when Pilgeram was 90 years major money at stake. Using the Pilgeram incident as a springboard, old, he died of an apparent heart attack Kurt’s lawyers intend to challenge the validity of the entire cryonics on the sidewalk in front of his Moreton industry by questioning its basis in science and the promises it makes Bay Lane home in Goleta. Alcor was con- to customers. “The more we learn, the more we ask ourselves, does the tacted and preparations for Pilgeram’s sus- model itself work?” said attorney David Tappeiner with Santa Barbara pension began. But things didn’t go as planned. Alcor dispatched two law firm Fell Marking. “This case is a lot bigger than we thought.” If they of its technicians to the morgue, where they removed Pilgeram’s head, win, it could put Alcor out of business. packed it on ice, and drove it back to Scottsdale. The rest of his remains Alcor, a multimillion-dollar nonprofit and the biggest cryonics were cremated and mailed to his son Kurt in Montana. operation in the world, is now lawyered to the hilt, too. The company INDEPENDENT.COM APRIL 18, 2019 THE INDEPENDENT 27 COVER STORY declined to comment beyond a prepared statement bit different,” said his younger brother, Jim. “He got that alludes to past legal disputes, perhaps its recent along with everybody and had a lot of girlfriends, one with the family of baseball legend and Alcor but he was always just a little different. Our mother client Ted Williams. “Alcor,” wrote attorney James used to joke that he was dropped from outer space Arrowood, “is confident that the Court and, if nec- by aliens.” essary, a Jury, will properly weigh all the facts and, Pilgeram built a laboratory in a corner of his par- as they have in the past, find that Alcor has acted ents’ barn, complete with a hand-crank centrifuge appropriately pursuant to its obligations to its mem- and a car-battery-powered electrical system, where bers and patients.” he experimented on animals and tried to prolong their lives. He injected bovine growth hormone into guinea pigs but only succeeded in giving them dia- PLAYING GOD betes. He fed thyroid tablets to the old family dog, Even as a little boy, Laurence Pilgeram thought a Tommy, who regained some of his youthful energy lot about death. He wanted to understand it, and to and even started chasing lady dogs again until he was beat it. shot by a neighbor for harassing his livestock. When he was 5, Pilgeram visited a relative in the For his most ambitious test, Pilgeram, inspired by hospital and later attended their funeral. He won- a radio series on experimental biology produced by dered why doctors were so helpless against disease. UC Berkeley, injected fertilized chicken-egg embryos At 7, during a Saturday-night town dance, he sat alone into adult chickens. He killed three of them before and preoccupied with the thought of losing his par-‘ his mother found out. Still, he was determined to ents. “Images would enter my mind of a loved one keep following what his brother called his “inquisi- ever so still and silent in a coffin never again to join us tive streak.” “He wasn’t much for the country way,” Jim said. Pilgeram graduated high school and enrolled at Berkeley, where he got his Our mother used to joke that he was PhD in biochemistry in 1953. He wanted to devote his career to researching the dropped from outer space by aliens. aging process but quickly discovered it — Jim Pilgeram was a field of low standing among sci- entists. “It was as though the topic was relegated to the province of fools and incompetents,” a frustrated Pilgeram wrote. He chalked it up to “mankind’s unquestioning and unaware‘ of the beings and life around the casket,” acceptance of death as being inevitable.” he wrote in a self-published autobiography. It filled He made an end-run by choosing to study vascu- him with dread because Pilgeram, who was raised lar disease, a respected field still connected to aging. Catholic, had stopped believing in an afterlife about His plan was to research heart attacks and strokes the same time he’d stopped believing in Santa Claus. and, whenever possible, consider the results through By 14, Pilgeram was studying the embalming pro- the lens of aging. “It was killing two birds with one cess of Egyptian mummies and pondering the split- stone,” he said. second transition from life to death. The concept was After teaching in Chicago and running a lab in constant and concrete, as livestock were frequently Minnesota, Pilgeram was recruited by Sansum Clinic slaughtered on his family’s ranch in Eden, Montana, in Santa Barbara to direct its atherosclerosis research where his German forebears had settled in the late program with a promise to build him a new research 1880s. While other young men his age were establish- facility on Bath Street. In July 1965, Pilgeram moved ing their own ranches, Pilgeram was saving up his to town with his wife, Marylin, and their two young fur-trapping money to buy books on tissue culture sons, Kurt and Karl. They were welcomed at a swanky and organ transplants. “He was always just a little buffet dinner at the Hope Ranch Country Club, and 28 THE INDEPENDENT APRIL 18, 2019 INDEPENDENT.COM SLEEP TIGHT: Mike Perry, Alcor’s patient care director and a future patient himself, monitors the cryo-capsules, which are chilled with liquid nitrogen to -300 degrees Fahrenheit and contain four whole bodies, as well as 10 heads. Perry is hunchbacked, a condition he hopes to be cured of when he’s revived in the future. soon Pilgeram settled into the new Bath Street building, which he helped design and still stands today. The job didn’t last — Pilgeram resisted San- sum’s order to shift his focus to diabetes — and neither did the marriage. It was around this time that Pilgeram first became interested in cryonics. While he makes no mention of it in his 125-page autobiography, Jim recalls the topic coming up frequently during Pilgeram’s summer trips back to the family ranch. He’d tell everyone he wanted to be frozen when he died. They should too. He’d argue that their Ger- man family line, which he traced back to the 1300s and said produced a number of great thinkers like himself, ought to be protected. The relatives all refused. “The rest of us just thought, hell, if we’re lucky enough to have one COURTESY good life, that’s all we deserved out of it,” said Jim, now 87. The debates were usually civil, but some- times they escalated. Their mother was especially against the idea, Jim said. “She’d tell me, ‘Jim, don’t let your brother freeze me.’” With respect to the lawsuit, Jim was adamant Pilgeram wanted his whole body preserved. “He believed in cryonics, but he didn’t believe in mutilation,” said Jim, who gave a deposition to the same effect.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Effect of Birthday on the Fluctuation of Suicides in Hungary
    REVIEW OF SOCIOLOGY 20(2): 96–105. The Effect of Birthday on the Fluctuation of Suicides STUDIES in Hungary (1970–2002) Tamás ZONDA – Károly BOZSONYI – Előd VERES – Zoltán KMEttY email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] ABSTRACT: The authors have not found any studies that show an unambiguous and close relation between the date of suicide and the birthday of the victims. They made an analysis on the Hungarian suicides between 1970 and 2002 with a method known from the literature and also with a modern, more sophisticated one. It was found that Hungarian men show explicit sensitivity to their birthday’s date: significantly more men commit suicide on their birthday in all age groups than on any other day of the year. Among women, a relation of weak significance appeared only in the older age group. The authors suggest the special sensitivity of Hungarian men which they interpret in the framework of Gabennesch’s ”broken promise effect”, but they think it necessary to do further research on this theme in Hungary. Introduction Researches in the past decades have revealed several circumstances in the back- ground of a particular suicide that are generally typical and almost identical in every fatal action, but many circumstances and relationships that are inter- pretable or understandable with difficulty are discovered during the precise reconstruction of a tragic action. The decision of self-destruction is composed of a complicated mesh of numerous life events, injuries and constellations of personality development. It is known that certain biographical dates affect the personality to a greater or lesser extent.
    [Show full text]
  • Looking Back Featured Stories from the Past
    ISSN-1079-7832 A Publication of the Immortalist Society Longevity Through Technology Volume 49 - Number 01 Looking Back Featured stories from the past www.immortalistsociety.org www.cryonics.org www.americancryonics.org Who will be there for YOU? Don’t wait to make your plans. Your life may depend on it. Suspended Animation fields teams of specially trained cardio-thoracic surgeons, cardiac perfusionists and other medical professionals with state-of-the-art equipment to provide stabilization care for Cryonics Institute members in the continental U.S. Cryonics Institute members can contract with Suspended Animation for comprehensive standby, stabilization and transport services using life insurance or other payment options. Speak to a nurse today about how to sign up. Call 1-949-482-2150 or email [email protected] MKMCAD160206 216 605.83A SuspendAnim_Ad_1115.indd 1 11/12/15 4:42 PM Why should You join the Cryonics Institute? The Cryonics Institute is the world’s leading non-profit cryonics organization bringing state of the art cryonic suspensions to the public at the most affordable price. CI was founded by the “father of cryonics,” Robert C.W. Ettinger in 1976 as a means to preserve life at liquid nitrogen temperatures. It is hoped that as the future unveils newer and more sophisticated medical nanotechnology, people preserved by CI may be restored to youth and health. 1) Cryonic Preservation 7) Funding Programs Membership qualifies you to arrange and fund a vitrification Cryopreservation with CI can be funded through approved (anti-crystallization) perfusion and cooling upon legal death, life insurance policies issued in the USA or other countries.
    [Show full text]
  • 5 Ways to Deal with Anniversary Reactions What Do You Do When Anniversary Memories Are Anything but Silver Or Gold? Posted Sep 22, 2016
    Psychology Today Ellen Hendriksen, Ph.D. Reprinted from Psychology Today September 22, 2016 5 Ways to Deal with Anniversary Reactions What do you do when anniversary memories are anything but silver or gold? Posted Sep 22, 2016 Anniversaries aren’t just for couples, and some aren’t so happy. The anniversary reaction: it’s the annual echo of a trauma or loss such as the death of a beloved, a nightmarish experience like sexual assault, a near-fatal accident, or military combat. Regardless of what happened, the anniversary reaction is specifically timed (hence the name), emotionally invested, and truly distressing. Moreover, it’s common; some researchers think the anniversary reaction should even be an official symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder. But despite the patterns being predictable, the reactions themselves are as varied as the individuals experiencing them. Sometimes, the mind remembers, even unconsciously, and a psychological reaction—like a spike in depression or PTSD—can be triggered by the weather, the light, or other seasonal reminders like back to school or the first signs of spring. For example, a study conducted by the Yale University School of Medicine looked at anniversary reactions in veterans of the early 1990s Gulf War. Several years after the war ended, each veteran, along with his or her spouse, was asked how well the veteran functioned over each of the previous 12 months. Each person identified the veteran’s worst month, best month, the month with the most PTSD symptoms, and the month with the fewest. Then, the researchers compared the veterans’ functioning to documented dates of their traumatic war experiences.
    [Show full text]
  • “Is Cryonics an Ethical Means of Life Extension?” Rebekah Cron University of Exeter 2014
    1 “Is Cryonics an Ethical Means of Life Extension?” Rebekah Cron University of Exeter 2014 2 “We all know we must die. But that, say the immortalists, is no longer true… Science has progressed so far that we are morally bound to seek solutions, just as we would be morally bound to prevent a real tsunami if we knew how” - Bryan Appleyard 1 “The moral argument for cryonics is that it's wrong to discontinue care of an unconscious person when they can still be rescued. This is why people who fall unconscious are taken to hospital by ambulance, why they will be maintained for weeks in intensive care if necessary, and why they will still be cared for even if they don't fully awaken after that. It is a moral imperative to care for unconscious people as long as there remains reasonable hope for recovery.” - ALCOR 2 “How many cryonicists does it take to screw in a light bulb? …None – they just sit in the dark and wait for the technology to improve” 3 - Sterling Blake 1 Appleyard 2008. Page 22-23 2 Alcor.org: ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ 2014 3 Blake 1996. Page 72 3 Introduction Biologists have known for some time that certain organisms can survive for sustained time periods in what is essentially a death"like state. The North American Wood Frog, for example, shuts down its entire body system in winter; its heart stops beating and its whole body is frozen, until summer returns; at which point it thaws and ‘comes back to life’ 4.
    [Show full text]
  • Clash of Norms Final 29June21
    Clash of norms Judicial leniency on defendant birthdays1 Daniel L. Chen Arnaud Philippe Abstract We document judicial leniency on defendant birthdays across 5 million decisions. Our results are consistent with reference-dependent social preferences. First, French sentences are 1% fewer and around 5% shorter. Second, U.S. federal judges also round down sentences except when rounding up makes available sentencing reductions for good behavior. No leniency appears on the days before or after a defendant’s birthday. Judges’ experience and economic reasoning seem to mitigate the effect, consistent with isolating a judicial channel. 1. Introduction Individuals frequently have to evaluate others’ productions, acts or personhood. In professional settings, those evaluations usually have to be done in an impartial way. Professors marking exams, loan officers evaluating demands, judges deciding cases are supposed to follow precise rules and to only evaluate some defined material. While they are supposed to be independent, surrounding norms could affect those evaluations. National or religious holidays, birthday of the evaluated person, birth or death of one of the person’s relatives could change the evaluators’ judgment. 1 Daniel L. Chen, [email protected], Toulouse School of Economics, Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, University of Toulouse Capitole, Toulouse, France; [email protected], LWP, Harvard Law School. Arnaud Philippe, [email protected], Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Toulouse School of Economics, University of Toulouse Capitole, Toulouse, France. First draft: June 2017. Current draft: June 2018. Latest version at: http://users.nber.org/~dlchen/papers/Clash_of_Norms.pdf. Work on this project was conducted while Chen received financial support from the European Research Council (Grant No.
    [Show full text]
  • June 2021 Issue 2 Using Data in the Presence of Uncertainty Can Numbers Go Wrong?
    IR CORNER June 2021 Issue 2 Using Data in the Presence of Uncertainty Can numbers go wrong? Lost in the Pandemic Which groups of students returned at lower rates in 2020? Online, Choose Your Time Did outcomes differ between asynchronous and synchronous TARRANT COUNTY COLLEGE online sections? OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH DIVISION OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EDITORIAL IR OFFICE: In the Presence of Robert Lorick Uncertainty Interim Executive Director of IR Holly Stovall Kira Barrington Asst. Executive Director of IR From varying 2020 election polls to widely differing projections for the number of COVID- Arjun Banjade 19 cases, some may question how the numbers Director of State Reporting that defined 2020 could have been so ‘wrong’. Unfortunately, information consumed through Sarah Davis sound bites and character-limited tweets is inspIRe Research Analyst often reduced and presented as news-worthy absolutes with no mention of limitations or Bonnie Hurford implications of uncertainty. Lead Programmer Analyst In 2021, you are watching the beginning miles of the Olympic marathon when an app on your Sarah Mizher phone alerts you that the 2-hour mark is being “Knowledge is Administrative Assistant broken. Should you be surprised when the winner’s final time is not faster than this an unending Elizabeth Northern famous threshold? Perhaps statements that adventure at Research Analyst the race will likely be finished very near the 2- hour mark or if the early pace holds the 2-hour the edge of Teresa Ray mark will be shattered more aptly convey some uncertainty.”* Coordinator of State Reporting uncertainty in the prediction with the embedded assumption that the current average pace continues.
    [Show full text]
  • Member Profile: Mike O’Neal Page 9
    May – June 2017 • Volume 38:3 Member Profile: Mike O’Neal Page 9 Interview with Aschwin de Wolf ISSN 1054-4305 Page 14 Case Report: James Baglivo $9.95 Page 22 Improve Your Odds of a Good Cryopreservation You have your cryonics funding and contracts in place but have you considered other steps you can take to prevent problems down the road? ü Keep Alcor up-to-date about personal and medical changes. ü Update your Alcor paperwork to reflect your current wishes. ü Execute a cryonics-friendly Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. ü Wear your bracelet and talk to your friends and family about your desire to be cryopreserved. ü Ask your relatives to sign Affidavits stating that they will not interfere with your cryopreservation. ü Attend local cryonics meetings or start a local group yourself. ü Contribute to Alcor’s operations and research. Contact Alcor (1-877-462-5267) and let us know how we can assist you. Visit the ALCOR FORUMS www.alcor.org/forums/ Discuss Alcor and cryonics topics with other members and Alcor officials. • The Alcor Foundation • Financial • Cell Repair Technologies • Rejuvenation • Cryobiology • Stabilization • Events and Meetings Other features include pseudonyms (pending verification of membership status) and a private forum. Visit the ALCOR BLOG www.alcor.org/blog/ Your source for news about: • Cryonics technology • Speaking events and meetings • Cryopreservation cases • Employment opportunities • Television programs about cryonics Alcor is on Facebook Connect with Alcor members and supporters on our official Facebook page: www.facebook.com/alcor.life.extension.foundation Become a fan and encourage interested friends, family members, and colleagues to support us too.
    [Show full text]
  • Reproductions Supplied by EDRS Are the Best That Can Be Made from the Original Document
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 443 037 CG 030 087 AUTHOR Hann, Della M., Ed.; Huffman, Lynne C., Ed.; Lederhendler, Israel I., Ed.; Meinecke, Douglas, Ed. TITLE Advancing Research on Developmental Plasticity: Integrating the Behavioral Science and Neuroscience of Mental Health. Proceedings (Chantilly, Virginia, May 12-15, 1996). INSTITUTION National Inst. of Mental Health (DHEW), Rockville, MD. REPORT NO NIMH-98-4338 PUB DATE 1998-00-00 NOTE 299p. PUB TYPE Books (010) Collected Works Proceedings (021) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC12 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Adjustment (to Environment); *Behavior Development; *Behavioral Sciences; Cognitive Development; *Developmental Stages; *Individual Development; Intervention; *Mental Health; Neuropsychology; Prevention; Psychiatry; *Research Needs; Social Behavior IDENTIFIERS *Neurosciences ABSTRACT This book represents the proceedings of the Conference on Advancing Research on Developmental Plasticity: Integrating Behavioral Science and the Neuroscience of Mental Health. The conference featured scientific presentations from many leading scientists in behavioral sciences, neuroscience and psychiatry, as well as a poster session for newer investigators and roundtable seminars for more in-depth discussion. The conference focused on three primary areas of development: stress and early development, cognition, and social behavior. The primary goal of the conference was to bring together scientists from neuroscience, the behavioral sciences, and psychiatry in order to begin identifying substantive topics that may benefit from more integrated cross-disciplinary research on developmental plasticity. The proceedings emphasize the importance of developmental plasticity in brain and behavior to mental health. Identifying the mechanisms and the timing by which these mechanisms operate could produce a greater understanding of the multiple and interconnected levels of functioning that lead to adjustment, as well as a much better understanding of when and how functioning becomes impaired.
    [Show full text]
  • The Power of Voodoo
    HIST/ANTH 442 The Power of Voodoo Voodoo’s Effect on the Haitian African Diaspora (Name Removed) 2013 CSUCI L ast Name | 1 The Power of Voodoo: Voodoo’s Effect on the Haitian African Diaspora Voodoo has been a powerful force in the lives of innumerable people of African descent, both positively and negatively. One of its largest groups of adherents resides in Haiti, where Voodoo is practiced by close to 5 million people, which accounts for nearly half of the population. Voodoo is a true syncretism; a mix of the worship of the gods their West African ancestors observed from ancient times and the worship of the Catholic saints that the slaves were taught in the New World. Its strongest influence came from the West African kingdom of Dahomey, and the word “voodoo” itself means a “god, spirit, or sacred object” in the Dahomean language (Wilmeth, 28). Voodoo brings a community together, remembering and honoring those that came before, but it also tends to create fear in outsiders who don’t understand it. Its demise has been predicted many times due to the “anti-superstitious persecution it aroused,” but it holds together against all the pressure against it and is practiced around the world to this day (Dominique, 104). L ast Name | 2 The positive effects of Voodoo on the diaspora are more obvious than the negative. When the anthropologist Katherine Dunham visited Haiti to observe the Haitian peoples’ lives and practices, Voodoo provided her with “a sense of ethnic ‘belonging’ that she never possessed before (Gelder, 92).” Levi-Strauss thinks of Voodoo as a social force, and believes it has the ability to hold a society together.
    [Show full text]
  • Too Young to Die: Regression Discontinuity of a Two-Part Minimum Legal Drinking Age Policy and the Causal Effect of Alcohol on Health
    Working Paper 2018:4 Department of Economics School of Economics and Management Too Young to Die: Regression Discontinuity of a Two-Part Minimum Legal Drinking Age Policy and the Causal Effect of Alcohol on Health Gawain Heckley Ulf-G. Gerdtham Johan Jarl March 2018 Too young to die: Regression discontinuity of a two-part minimum legal drinking age policy and the causal effect of alcohol on health∗ March 5, 2018 Gawain Heckley Ulf-G Gerdtham Johan Jarl Health Economics Unit, Health Economics Unit, Health Economics Unit, Dep of Clinical Science; Dep of Clinical Science; Dep of Clinical Science, Centre for Economic Centre for Economic Lund University Demography, Demography; Lund University and Dep of Economics, Lund University Abstract This study examines the impact of Sweden’s unique two-part Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) policy on alcohol consumption and health using regression discontinuity design. In Sweden on-licence purchasing of alcohol is legalised at 18 and off-licence purchasing is legalised later at 20 years of age. We find an immediate and significant 6% jump in participation and a larger increase in number of days drinking at age 18 of about 16% but no large jumps at age 20. No discernible increases in mortality at age 18 or 20 are found but hospital visits due to external causes do see an increase at both 18 and 20 years. Compared to previous findings for single MLDAs the alcohol impacts we find are smaller and the health impacts less severe. The findings suggest that a two-part MLDA can help young adults in their transition to unrestricted alcohol and help contain the negative health impacts that have been observed elsewhere.
    [Show full text]
  • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
    John Curtin Institute of Public Policy – Curtin Business School Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Policy, Practice and Regulatory Capture in Australia 1992–2012 Martin Paul Whitely This thesis is presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Curtin University March 2014 Declaration To the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis contains no material previously published by any other person except where due acknowledgment has been made. This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university. Signature: …………………………………………. Date: ………………………... Abstract Like many first world nations, Australia has demonstrated an increasingly pharmaceuticalized response to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Per capita rates of prescriptions of ADHD medications grew 277 percent between 1995 and 2010. However, there have been large and inconsistent intertemporal variations between state jurisdictions (shifting over time in relative terms). Most notably, in Western Australia (WA) in 2002 the child Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) per capita prescribing rate was 142 percent above the national average. However, after 2003, while in other states prescribing rates grew, they fell by 50 percent in WA, and by 2011 they were 11 percent below the national average. There has been significant academic, public and media interest not only about the growing and inconsistent prescribing rates, but also about concerns that conflicts of interests and ‘regulatory capture’ may have affected significant policy development and regulatory processes in relation to ADHD. Regulatory capture occurs if an entity that is supposed to advance the public interest instead acts to benefit commercial or industry interests in ways that are contrary to the public interest.
    [Show full text]
  • Longevity Through Technology Volume 50 - Number 04
    ISSN-1079-7832 A Publication of the Immortalist Society published with the cooperation of the American Cryonics Society and the Cryonics Institute. Longevity Through Technology Volume 50 - Number 04 The Immortalist Society wishes to thank the American Cryonics Society (ACS) and cryonics trusts managed by ACS for sponsoring non- subscriber mailings for this edition www.immortalistsociety.org www.cryonics.org | www.americancryonics.org Who will be there for YOU? Don’t wait to make your plans. Your life may depend on it. Suspended Animation fields teams of specially trained cardio-thoracic surgeons, cardiac perfusionists and other medical professionals with state-of-the-art equipment to provide stabilization care for Cryonics Institute members in the continental U.S. Cryonics Institute members can contract with Suspended Animation for comprehensive standby, stabilization and transport services using life insurance or other payment options. Speak to a nurse today about how to sign up. Call 1-949-482-2150 or email [email protected] MKMCAD160206 216 605.83A SuspendAnim_Ad_1115.indd 1 11/12/15 4:42 PM Why should You join the Cryonics Institute? The Cryonics Institute is the world’s leading non-profit cryonics organization bringing state of the art cryonic suspensions to the public at the most affordable price. CI was founded by the “father of cryonics,” Robert C.W. Ettinger in 1976 as a means to preserve life at liquid nitrogen temperatures. It is hoped that as the future unveils newer and more sophisticated medical nanotechnology, people preserved by CI may be restored to youth and health. 1) Cryonic Preservation 7) Funding Programs Membership qualifies you to arrange and fund a Cryopreservation with CI can be funded through vitrification (anti-crystallization) perfusion and cooling approved life insurance policies issued in the USA or other upon legal death, followed by long-term storage in liquid countries.
    [Show full text]