Terminally ill British girl wins right to freeze her body

The flying mouse

A 14-year old girl who died of cancer has been cryogenically frozen in the hope she could be brought back to life in the future after winning a landmark court case shortly before her death, the BBC reported on Friday.

It said the girl was supported in her wish to be preserved by her mother but not by her father.

Cryonics is the practice or technique of deep-freezing the bodies of those who have died of an incurable disease, in the hope of a future cure.

https://www.google.es/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwid0cv68bLQAhWFWxoKHTKNBRkQqUMIJzAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Farticle%2Fus-britain-science-girl-idUSKBN13D0QI&usg=AFQjCNFRE9iqCm70iAn5jNlaf_GH65c9rg

I don't see any downsides to this ? Wouldn't it be great to come back and have a look around , what you think AH ? would you do it ?

Spanish Eyes

If the girl's executors and family can afford it, why not?

KungPao

Cryonics. May as well just throw your money on the fire.

diomed

I blame Disney

ScumLord

The flying mouse wrote: »

I don't see any downsides to this ?

Brain damage would be the obvious one. It's unknown if they'll actually be able to reboot the human brain and return the person as they were.

I don't know if the brain is simply a piece of hardware that will carry on where it left off, there could be something to the way the electrical current is held and letting that electric current dissipate may mean that the hardware can still handle the processes but they're random and uncoordinated.


I suppose it's worth a shot, you'll either remain dead or get another shot. I don't understand how they're going to cover their costs. Do you get a hundred years and then get dumped?

arayess

ScumLord wrote: »

Brain damage would be the obvious one. It's unknown if they'll actually be able to reboot the human brain and return the person as they were.

I don't know if the brain is simply a piece of hardware that will carry on where it left off, there could be something to the way the electrical current is held and letting that electric current dissipate may mean that the hardware can still handle the processes but they're random and uncoordinated.


I suppose it's worth a shot, you'll either remain dead or get another shot. I don't understand how they're going to cover their costs. Do you get a hundred years and then get dumped?

I agree also they can't prove the person doesn't have some consciousness.
It would incredibly boring being frozen and awake for that length of time.

not for me ..

Outlaw Pete

When she is brought back to life in say 2029, her ID will obviously say that she is 27 but she will in actuality still be only 14 and so maybe she's just doing all this so that she can legally buy alcohol while she is underage.

Kids today, eh.

Atlantic Dawn

It's rather selfish to have money blown keeping you frozen indefinitely.

247music

Im confused... If shes dead then what is freezing her body going to do for her?

The Specialist

Seems an awful waste of money for something that will most likely never be possible to do.

osarusan

A slightly more upmarket version of this I suppose.

Gatling

247music wrote: »

Im confused... If shes dead then what is freezing her body going to do for her?

She's hoping that in the future her cance can be cured and she can then be brought back to live a full happy life

The Backwards Man

How will she know how to use the three seashells?

retro:electro

But she died from cancer, so unless they find a cure for cancer and are able to bring people back to life sadly this is just money wasted.
From what I know this stuff is only supposed to *work* if you freeze yourself before you die. They will thaw her out in 500 years and she will still be dead.
Not only that but everyone she knows will be dead, but hey if the thought of coming back gave her some comfort in her final days then who am I to judge.

Felix Jones is God

I know somebody who was cryogenically frozen 7 years ago....he's still dead and his family footing the bill......cupid stunt .

The_Valeyard

While the idea has merit, technology for this to be a success is still a long way off.



Just need to avoid cryofreezing Khan.

Harry Palmr

It'll never actually happen, only a teenager or someone with a teenagers mentality would actually think this was worth undertaking.

If by some chance she was defrosted successfully what state would she be in, presumably memory would not survive the time elapsed so she'd have to be reborn basically. If the thawing process didn't work correctly then brain damage and other tissue/nerve issues would seem certain.

On the face of it, a strange decision, it would be strange if it was an adult but would have thought a 14 year old is still considered too young to be able to make such a decision for herself.

Very sad story though.

Felix Jones is God

The_Valeyard wrote: »

While the idea has merit, technology for this to be a success is still a long way off.



Just need to avoid cryofreezing Khan.

Chaka ?

Yeah, can't be subjected to anymore shíte breakdance music in the future, horrific stuff altogether

Felix Jones is God

They cryogenically freeze bodies and heads....did they just freeze her head...if so they need to find a cure for cancer and the guillotine

The flying mouse

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

It's rather selfish to have money blown keeping you frozen indefinitely.

JS’s parents could not afford to pay for the cryonic process, which costs from £37,000, but her maternal grandparents raised the money needed for her body to be frozen and taken to a storage facility in America - one of only two countries, along with Russia, that has facilities for storing frozen bodies.

A lot more info and opinions in this link

https://www.google.es/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjttejq-LLQAhXCvRQKHRnCDlkQqUMIIjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fnews%2F2016%2F11%2F18%2Fcancer-girl-14-is-cryogenically-frozen-after-telling-judge-she-w%2F&usg=AFQjCNF3VIDbljs0q1tKY6BttBv8_ECnHg

Dont be at yourself

Would always have shared the general sentiment as the rest of this thread, but there's an excellent article that certainly had me thinking:

http://waitbutwhy.com/2016/03/cryonics.html

The flying mouse

Deleted User wrote: »

On the face of it, a strange decision, it would be strange if it was an adult but would have thought a 14 year old is still considered too young to be able to make such a decision for herself.

Very sad story though.

She got her mother to agree, while her estranged father did not, and yes it is actually very sad, even though my opening post is a bit flippant.

Ayuntamiento

Her father was totally in the wrong to oppose this. In doing so he created this legal battle which must have consumed the last few months of her life. He also ruined the final moments of his relationship with her. I assume she wanted nothing to do with him when he opposed her wishes like this. He is described in the media as her 'estranged father' so what right did he have in choosing how her body was disposed of?
She was 14yrs old. Therefore, she would have been consulted in all the decision making processes around her treatment once the doctors established that she was able to understand the consequences of all her actions. The judge in this case described her as bright and intelligent, and he sided with her, so you can assume she had capacity.
For all of you horrible people who described a DYING CHILD as selfish because cryogenics is expensive, I've read that her maternal family had already raised the money for this procedure via a GoFund me campaign.

Felix Jones is God

Dont be at yourself wrote: »

Would always have shared the general sentiment as the rest of this thread, but there's an excellent article that certainly had me thinking:

http://waitbutwhy.com/2016/03/cryonics.html

Ah well, a blog changes everything now doesn't it

shamrock55

But doesn't your soul leave your body when you die,what good is a body that ain't got no soul

IamtheWalrus

I suspect this was the little girl's coping mechanism in dealing with the terrible reality. Nothing more.

Ayuntamiento

None of this is about the likelihood of cryogenics actually working (my personal opinion is that she'll never be revived). It's about the fact that this terrified 14yr old girl couldn't accept that her one shot at life was over. She was quoted as saying that she couldn't accept the idea of her body being buried beneath the ground. I'm more than double her age and I can't accept the idea of myself being buried. Cremated sounds awful too.

If she got any peace from the idea that her body would be preserved then more power to her.

retro:electro

Ayuntamiento wrote: »

None of this is about the likelihood of cryogenics actually working (my personal opinion is that she'll never be revived). It's about the fact that this terrified 14yr old girl couldn't accept that her one shot at life was over. She was quoted as saying that she couldn't accept the idea of her body being buried beneath the ground. I'm more than double her age and I can't accept the idea of myself being buried. Cremated sounds awful too.

If she got any peace from the idea that her body would be preserved then more power to her.

So sad.

Academic

She was a fourteen-year-old girl who died a terrible death and who apparently took some comfort in doing this. Who are we to begrudge her that comfort?

It’s far more rational than taking comfort in believing in a non-existent afterlife, and few would begrudge others that comfort.

R.I.P.

Captain Chaos

Felix Jones is God wrote: »

They cryogenically freeze bodies and heads....did they just freeze her head...if so they need to find a cure for cancer and the guillotine

Just her head, it cost £37,000. It would have been £100,000+ for full body. They reckon they will be able to grow a body with your own stem cells and graft your head on in the future.