Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Iowa court: Exhume body so head can be frozen
AP on Yahoo ^ | 5/14/10 | Michael J. Crumb - ap

Posted on 05/14/2010 2:45:59 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

DES MOINES, Iowa – The siblings of a man who died more than a year ago must exhume his body so his head can be cut off and cryogenically frozen, the Iowa Court of Appeals has ruled.

The court sided this week with Alcor Life Extension Foundation, which sought to dig up the remains of 81-year-old Orville Richardson of Burlington. Richardson had signed a contract with Alcor in 2004 and paid $53,500 to have his head placed in cryonic suspension after his death.

When he died in February 2009, Richardson's brother and sister buried him instead, having told him earlier that they would have nothing to do with his plan, court records show.

Alcor learned of Richardson's death two months afterward, when his brother, David Richardson, asked the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company to refund the money already paid.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Iowa; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: exhume; frozen; head; iowa
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-5051-77 next last

1 posted on 05/14/2010 2:45:59 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge

A little late!


2 posted on 05/14/2010 2:47:06 PM PDT by mylife (Opinions: $1 Halfbaked: 50c)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge

ROTFL!!! Some people will do ANYTHING to get their cut.


3 posted on 05/14/2010 2:47:22 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Politics is only about money and the power to control it. ALL of it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge

jeez louise....stupid court ruling.....stupid idea of Orville’s also.


4 posted on 05/14/2010 2:48:04 PM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion,,,,,,the Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge

Sounds like a 1960’s horror movie.


5 posted on 05/14/2010 2:48:08 PM PDT by ExTexasRedhead (Clean the RAT/RINO Sewer in 2010 and 2012)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge

I thought things like that were only done before embalming?


6 posted on 05/14/2010 2:49:42 PM PDT by chris_bdba
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge
On the other hand, who knows?
They reanimated Orville Redenbacher.


7 posted on 05/14/2010 2:51:19 PM PDT by mylife (Opinions: $1 Halfbaked: 50c)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: chris_bdba

Man, is he going to be pissed when they bring him back.
“You brought me back like THIS????”


8 posted on 05/14/2010 2:51:25 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge

This fool paid Alcor Life Extension Foundation $53,500 so they could have his head?

Why would they want it? If he paid them that kind of money he must have kept it pretty far up his a$$.


9 posted on 05/14/2010 2:51:53 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd (PALIN/MCCAIN IN 2012 - barf alert? sarc tag? -- can't decide)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge

Not to be insensitive, but isn’t it a wee bit too late?


10 posted on 05/14/2010 2:52:36 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge

The head is rotted and the brains have likely been easten mostly


11 posted on 05/14/2010 2:52:49 PM PDT by GeronL (Political Correctness Kills)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge

You can’t make this stuff up. What a wierd case.


12 posted on 05/14/2010 2:53:43 PM PDT by bytesmith
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: windcliff

ping


13 posted on 05/14/2010 2:54:06 PM PDT by stylecouncilor (What Would Jim Thompson Do?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge

Now there’s a job I want: cutting the head off an old dude who’s been melting for a year.

Bring lots of air freshener.


14 posted on 05/14/2010 2:54:20 PM PDT by lurk
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge
Not a decent brain in any "body" involved in this farce.
15 posted on 05/14/2010 2:54:36 PM PDT by hoosierham (Waddaya mean Freedom isn't free ?;will you take a credit card?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GeronL
"Brains! Must East Brains"!


16 posted on 05/14/2010 2:54:58 PM PDT by mylife (Opinions: $1 Halfbaked: 50c)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge

FAIL


17 posted on 05/14/2010 2:55:35 PM PDT by RichInOC (No! BAD Rich! (What'd I say?)...R.I.P.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: trisham

For 53 grand I’ll stick his head in my freezer downstairs next to Aunt Tilly.


18 posted on 05/14/2010 2:55:37 PM PDT by donhunt (I used to have a US senator who lived in a compound.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge

They preferred the 53K over getting a head. Go figure.


19 posted on 05/14/2010 2:57:34 PM PDT by tumblindice
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: FlingWingFlyer

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.


20 posted on 05/14/2010 2:57:34 PM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: donhunt

LOL! I hear you.


21 posted on 05/14/2010 2:57:45 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: mylife

Oh no Liberals!!


22 posted on 05/14/2010 2:57:54 PM PDT by GeronL (Political Correctness Kills)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge

Sounds like Orville had a contract with ALCOR to have his head cryogenically frozen, with a clause stating that this happen even under bad conditions.

ALCOR merely went to court to fulfill the contract, even though it’s rather late.


23 posted on 05/14/2010 2:59:39 PM PDT by MetaThought
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GeronL

LoL!


24 posted on 05/14/2010 2:59:56 PM PDT by mylife (Opinions: $1 Halfbaked: 50c)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: mylife

When there’s no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.


25 posted on 05/14/2010 3:07:11 PM PDT by Hitlerys uterus (I have just about had it up to here with foreigners.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge

The man paid his money for what he wanted. The family had no right to second-guess his intentions. If the company was capable of cryogenically storing the mans brain for an extended period of time, then he would be getting what he paid for. It sucks that the family went against his wishes for the sake of the money, but I am glad the company fought this and won.

You can all laugh about it all you want, but it doen’t change anything. You have no idea what can happen in the future, given where we have come from in only 200 years. In 1810, there were sailboats, and anyone who said there would be anything like railroads and airplanes would have been derided intensely. Who is to say what will be in another 200 years, assuming the libs do not destroy our country. They might actually fail at that, meaning that anythinig is possible.

In 250 years, someone might actually figure out a way to program a human consciousness into a computer. If I was in my 100’s and dying, I would volunteer to be that consciousness, although I would ask for a nice battery backup and several concurrent broadband connections. But we could be looking at nuclear battery backups with 500 years of power.

Burying the guy when he had a contract for brain cryopreservation is just like pulling the plug on Grandma so they can start spending the inheritance. The relatives are the ones who should be excoriated, not the deceased guy.


26 posted on 05/14/2010 3:07:23 PM PDT by webheart (I am a Sarah fan.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge
What a brother. Ignore the deceased wishes, then try to game $54K of your dead brother's money back from the company with which he had a valid contract. It's not murder after someone is already 'dead'.

/johnny

27 posted on 05/14/2010 3:12:26 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge

One year dead? Orville should be one more space to the right, IIRC.

28 posted on 05/14/2010 3:13:33 PM PDT by Charles Martel ("Endeavor to persevere...")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: webheart

I’d rather be pickled then frozen myself. hold the broadband connection.


29 posted on 05/14/2010 3:17:05 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed .. Monthly Donor Onboard .. Chuck DeVore - CA Senator. Believe.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge
Medical update for the relatives:


30 posted on 05/14/2010 3:19:04 PM PDT by jiggyboy (Ten per cent of poll respondents are either lying or insane)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge

Alcor sounds as if it could be one of Al Gore’s inventions.

Junk science and no oversight.

What a scam on vulnerable people.


31 posted on 05/14/2010 3:19:18 PM PDT by sodpoodle (Despair - Man's surrender. Laughter - God's redemption)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Charles Martel

32 posted on 05/14/2010 3:21:30 PM PDT by tflabo (Restore the Republic)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge

I know the law and order types on this forum, but there is still something rather unseemly to me, about the court giving a corporation head.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, these two relatives, lost the bust.


33 posted on 05/14/2010 3:23:01 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Excusaholic: MeCain lost to Jr., RINO endorsements are flying, & you live at 2012 Denial Blvd.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge
Yes, it's way too late in this instance for cryonic suspension to have any chance at being effective. However, family members must be held accountable for respecting the wishes of the deceased regarding the disposition of his or her remains. For that reason, the court ruling is absolutely correct—and the more pain it causes the family, the better!

If you have a family member who wants cryonic suspension in the event of his or here death, respect that person's wishes. That is your sacred duty. Failure to do so should be criminal—and will be, eventually.

34 posted on 05/14/2010 3:24:03 PM PDT by sourcery (Government should be as powerless as possible, while still able to protect individual rights)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge

What sort of idiot wants his dead head frozen anyway? sheeeesh...what ghouls!


35 posted on 05/14/2010 3:29:13 PM PDT by tflabo (Restore the Republic)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: FlingWingFlyer

Alcor gets paid regardless. Either the money was in an escrow account or a life insurance policy that they owned.

When Alcor sues families who violate the wishes of the deceased, it COSTS them money.

Alcor sues to fulfill it’s legal obligations.

The family should NOT have violated the wishes of the deceased. If you don’t own your own body, then what do you own?


36 posted on 05/14/2010 3:30:23 PM PDT by darth
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge

Haven’t any of you watched Futurerama?

Nixon has been there for years!


37 posted on 05/14/2010 3:33:42 PM PDT by Sparky21555
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sodpoodle

Alcor has been around for over 25 years.

The average IQ of the members is adequate for Mensa membership and includes a number of prominent scientists.

They are not scammed; they are OPTIMISTS who have decided to try one-way time travel.


38 posted on 05/14/2010 3:37:29 PM PDT by darth
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: webheart

He’s been dead for what, a year now? This is a bad ruling. The company (which is scummy btw), should refund the 55 thousand dollars, as they did not provide any service.


39 posted on 05/14/2010 3:51:37 PM PDT by BenKenobi
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: darth

I’d rather have common sense.


40 posted on 05/14/2010 3:52:32 PM PDT by BenKenobi (I want to hear more about Sam! Samwise the stouthearted!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: BenKenobi

Spend your money anyway you like.

My common sense says that in 500 or 1000 years we will have incredible technology. 100 years ago, when your heart stopped beating, the doc pronounced you dead.

We already have frozen, thawed, and re-started animal hearts.

Call me an optimist.


41 posted on 05/14/2010 3:57:51 PM PDT by darth
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge
Richardson had signed a contract with Alcor in 2004 and paid $53,500 to have his head placed in cryonic suspension after his death.

Heads, I win!

42 posted on 05/14/2010 4:01:29 PM PDT by mlocher (USA is a sovereign nation)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GeronL
The head is rotted and the brains have likely been easten mostly

Why can I envision Marty Feldman with an overgrown petri dish labelled "Abnormal'?

43 posted on 05/14/2010 4:04:23 PM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: webheart
The man paid his money for what he wanted. The family had no right to second-guess his intentions.

The article stated that the family would have nothing to do with his plan. There are legal options, which Richardson apparently ignored, to better ensure his wishes would be carried out. Richardson's mistake was believing his family would carry out his wishes, after they told him they would not.

44 posted on 05/14/2010 4:05:30 PM PDT by mlocher (USA is a sovereign nation)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: darth

Fair enough. I’d rather have 55k though.


45 posted on 05/14/2010 4:33:12 PM PDT by BenKenobi (I want to hear more about Sam! Samwise the stouthearted!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: darth
The average IQ of the members is adequate for Mensa membership and includes a number of prominent scientists. They are not scammed; they are OPTIMISTS who have decided to try one-way time travel.

Sound a lot like the Hale-Bopp fanatics. Mensa mandarins are obviously idiots under the skin.

46 posted on 05/14/2010 4:36:49 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: webheart

***In 250 years, someone might actually figure out a way to program a human consciousness into a computer.***

IMHO God already determined the nature of human existence. We need only to live according to His commandments.

To equate modes of transportation and other conveniences of technology to the miracle of creation is sacrilege.

We are already diminishing His work with transgender surgery, surrogate wombs and other vanities. The devil himself is clearly dealing in the deterioration of the species.


47 posted on 05/14/2010 4:39:04 PM PDT by sodpoodle (Despair - Man's surrender. Laughter - God's redemption)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: darth

What promise do you have that when the technology to reawaken or download the brains becomes possible, that your brain will get the service?


48 posted on 05/14/2010 4:44:52 PM PDT by agooga (Struggling every day to be worthy of their sacrifice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: sodpoodle

“IMHO God already determined the nature of human existence. We need only to live according to His commandments.”

How do you know it wasn’t God’s intention for us to attempt to live longer? Serious question. Someday, assuming technology continues to advance, the average human lifespan may be hundreds of years.


49 posted on 05/14/2010 4:48:00 PM PDT by agooga (Struggling every day to be worthy of their sacrifice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: hinckley buzzard

During my aerospace career where I was dubbed “Darth” by my colleagues, I was called both “Visionary” and “nuts”. Management thought I was both. My vision of the future yielded a $6B contract.

Oh yeah, Mensa was a bust. The women were intelligent, but weird. Maybe because it was in LA.


50 posted on 05/14/2010 4:48:02 PM PDT by darth
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-5051-77 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson