Suspended Animation, Inc. Standby & Transport Services

Getting Started, MEMBERS, SERVICES, STANDBY

Suspended Animation, Inc.

Standby, Stabilization and Transport for CI Members

Suspended Animation, Inc. (SA) is a cryopreservation research company based in Lake Forest, CA. Cryonics Institute (CI) Members who reside in the continental United States can obtain Standby and Transport from Suspended Animation through a special purpose local help rider to the Cryonic Suspension Agreement. SA is an option offered to CI Members, but CI neither endorses nor opposes the use of SA. Some CI Members utilize SA, and others do not, and opinions differ regarding the advantages or disadvantages of SA’s services. You should make your own investigation and decision regarding the use of SA. Information can be obtained below and from the SA website.

Suspended Animation, Inc. Fees

Fees for Standby, Stabilization, Transport, and Cryopreservation Provided by Suspended Animation and the Cryonics Institute
Standby Provided by Suspended Animation	Insured Plan $30,000 Life Insurance payable to Suspended Animation. Covers up to two deployments plus unlimited standby days, only while a Serious Risk prevails.	Prepaid Flat-Rate Plan $27,500 Prepaid by refundable cash deposit to Suspended Animation. Covers up to two deployments plus unlimited standby days, only while a Serious Risk prevails.	Prepaid Incremental Plan $13,000 Prepaid by refundable cash deposit to Suspended Animation. Covers only one deployment for up to 72 hours when requested by a member experiencing Small or Serious Risk.
Additional Days of Standby provided by Suspended Animation	$5,000 per day Paid by any method acceptable to Suspended Animation. Under the Insured Plan or Prepaid Flat-Rate Plan, this fee is charged only when the risk has diminished from Serious to Small but the member requests a continuation of standby.		$5,000 per day Paid by any method acceptable to Suspended Animation. For each additional day after the first 72 hours.
Field Cryoprotectant Service	$18,000	$18,000	$18,000
Stabilization and Transport provided by Suspended Animation	$30,000 completion fee Paid by life insurance or other acceptable arrangement via the Cryonics Institute. Includes anti-ischemia medications, rapid cooling, cardiopulmonary support, perfusion with organ preservation solution and transport to the Cryonics Institute. A reduced fee may apply if some procedures are not applicable or possible.
Last-Minute Sign-Up Fee	$20,000 CI members who are deemed by SA/RBS, in their reasonable discretion, to be Last Minute Sign-ups will be assessed a Last Minute Sign-Up Fee of $20,000
Cryopreservation provided by the Cryonics Institute	$28,000 or $35,000 Paid by life insurance or other acceptable arrangement via the Cryonics Institute. (Option 1 or Option 2 Plan) Includes cryoprotective perfusion with vitrification solution, and subsequent maintenance in liquid nitrogen for the indefinite future.

Whole-Body Field Cryoprotection for Cryonics Institute Members

The Cryonics Institute and Suspended Animation are excited to offer whole-body field cryoprotection (FCP) to CI members.

In FCP a cryonics patient’s blood is replaced with a cryoprotectant at the patient’s location instead of the cryonics organization facility. This procedure eliminates the cell and tissue damage that normally would occur if a patient would be shipped to a cryonics facility after pronouncement of legal death.

CI already offers its members the option of making arrangements with Suspended Animation for Standby, Stabilization, and Transport (SST). SST procedures entail deploying a trained team of cryonics professionals to the bedside of the patient to prevent any further deterioration of the patient’s condition after pronouncement of legal death. To achieve this goal, the patient’s blood circulation is restored through mechanical chest compressions and ventilations, medications are administered to prevent blood clotting and keep cells viable, and a portable ice bath is used to cool the patient as fast as possible. This procedure is followed by a total body washout to further enhance cooling and remove the blood. In the old SA procedure, the patient was then shipped to CI on water ice. The new FCP procedure eliminates this cold transport in favor of doing all procedures on-site.

After blood washout a team of skilled perfusionists gradually introduce the vitrification agent VM-1 in increasing steps until a concentration is reached that eliminates ice formation when the patient is later stored at liquid nitrogen temperatures at CI. After the cryoprotection procedure is completed, the patient is shipped on dry ice to the cryonics facility by air- or ground transport (depending on the location of the patient). At CI the patient is then further cooled to liquid nitrogen temperature and placed into long-term care.

SA’s FCP procedure is a true whole-body FCP procedure where professional surgeons and perfusionists use the heart vessels to circulate the cryoprotectant throughout the body. This procedure is a significant improvement over sub-optimal procedures where only the head is perfused through the neck vessels and the rest of the body is allowed to freeze.

For more information about field cryoprotection, please read the FCP FAQ.

CRYONICS INSTITUTE NOW OFFERS SUSPENDED ANIMATION STANDBY OPTION

(The 2005 announcement of the Standby and Transport program offered to Cryonics Institute Members was made in two parts, one by the Cryonics Institute and one by Suspended Animation, Inc. An update announces the availability of Insurance-Funded Standby as of January, 2006)

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE CRYONICS INSTITUTE (Spring 2005)

The Cryonics Institute has successfully concluded negotiations for a contract to offer Standby and Transport assistance from the Florida cryopreservation research company Suspended Animation, Inc. CI Members who wish to receive these services must provide additional funding, part of which can be through life insurance.

“Standby” refers to a team of fully-equipped cryopreservation employees waiting by the bedside of a cryonics patient close to legal death or at risk of legal death. If the cryonics patient deanimates and is pronounced legally dead by a physician or qualified nurse, then the Standby team will immediately attempt to begin the application of cryonics stabilization procedures, including ice-bath cooling and the use of a heart-lung device.

“Transport” includes moving the cryonics patient from the location where death was pronounced to the CI Facility in Michigan. During Transport the Suspended Animation team will attempt to continue to apply procedures intended to prevent damage to tissues, particularly the brain. These procedures will include blood washout and may include cryoprotectant perfusion (depending upon whether the patient wishes CI or Suspended Animation to do the final perfusion).

The normal funding mechanism for CI Members is to have a basic fee for perfusion, cool- down and long-term storage — currently $28,000 Option One and $35,000 Option Two. Additionally, for Members not living in the Michigan area CI has a Local Help Rider to pay for services of a remote funeral director, which may include heparinization, some CPR, packing in ice and transport to Michigan. For the Local Help Rider CI Members are expected to allocate additional funding — up to $5,000 in the US and up to $15,000 overseas. This can be included in their insurance or in prepayment.

The Suspended Animation agreement is simply an extension of the Local Help Rider. The SA Rider not only provides for payment for a remote funeral director (whom Suspended Animation would work-with and pay), but for post-mortem standby and transport. Formally, the new agreement is not much different from the usual Local Help Rider except that the protocol is more extensive, the price is higher and the Rider would be (initially) restricted to US Members. Insurance funding is currently only available for procedures that Suspended Animation performs after pronouncement of death. Pre-mortem Standby must be funded through pre-payment or a special bank account. CI Members interested in Suspended Animation Standby should examine the information available on the CI Website: Click Here Further information may be obtained on the SA website and below.

Details Concerning SA Transport Option for CI Members

The Cryonics Institute has an agreement (contract) with Suspended Animation entitled Cryopreservation Agreement between the Cryonics Institute and Suspended Animation. This agreement specifies obligations between SA and CI under which the SA procedures are offered to CI Members. The agreement is to be renewed automatically on a yearly basis unless adjustments are to be made before renewal. This agreement is essential for Suspended Animation Local Help Rider and the Individual Agreement Regarding Standby for a Cryonics Institute Member by Suspended Animation to be valid, but cancellation of the Cryopreservation Agreement between the Cryonics Institute and Suspended Animation is not anticipated. If not-renewal did occur, there would be notification 30 days prior to the April 21 renewal date and SA-Affiliated CI Members would be informed immediately.

There are two attachments to the Cryopreservation Agreement between the Cryonics Institute and Suspended Animation. Attachment 1 is Certification of Completion of Standby Performed for the Cryonics Institute by Suspended Animation. This document between SA and CI would normally be of only marginal interest to SA-Affiliated CI Members. Attachment 2, Schedule of Fees for Standby Provided for the Cryonics Institute by Suspended Animation however, is of much greater concern.

The Fee Schedule is also to be revised annually. But fees applicable to any individual SA-Affiliated CI Members will always be valid for one year. For example, if a SA-Affiliated CI Member completes arrangements in August and a new Fee Schedule is announced the following April, the SA-Affiliated CI Member’s fees will not change until his/her annual renewal date in August, at the time when the annual readiness fee payment is due. Readiness fees are to be paid to CI, although the SA-Affiliated CI Members should deal directly with SA concerning health status changes and pre-mortem Standby funding. No change of fees will be made prior to the year 2010.

Pre-mortem Standby funding can be pre-paid directly to SA or arrangements made with SA for a special Deployment bank account. Beginning in 2006 insurance can also be used to pay for the pre-mortem Standby procedures in addition to all of post-mortem procedures.

CI must be the owner of insurance policies used by SA-Affiliated CI Members, but CI will relinquish insurance policy ownership if a CI Member discontinues SA-Affiliated status. As CI gains experience with its relationship with Standby and Suspended Animation, it is possible that insurance funding may pay for some Standby costs under some circumstances in the future, even though this is not the case in the present.