CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER

Almost one hundred fifty years ago Lewis Carroll wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. One of the expressions we have retained from the story is "curiouser and curiouser."

In the course of my research on probate and tax matters, I sometimes run into cases which are, indeed, "curiouser and curiouser." Such a case is being heard in the El Paso County Probate Court in Colorado Springs.

Mary D. Robbins made a deal with Alcor Life Extension Foundation of Scottsdale, Arizona providing that, for a gift of $50,000, Cryogenics would receive her body following her death and preserve her head by cryonic suspension - a kind of deep freeze. When she died of cancer her family claimed that she had terminated the arrangement with Alcor, and they did not want Alcor to have her body.

The judge has ruled in favor of Alcor, and the family is deciding whether to appeal. In the meantime, Mary is in a nursing home packed in dry ice.

Cryonic suspension involves storing bodies at -320 degrees bodies in the hope that one day medical science will be able to restore them to life. The body of Ted Williams, whose name graces the tunnel in Boston, is also being maintained by Alcor. Through some sort of error the body of Ted Williams, who always had a good head on his shoulders, was dismembered, and his body is in one capsule and his head is in another.

Cryonic suspension gives a new sense to the slang expressions "cool it" and "chill out." But that is only one of the methods of dealing with bodies after death, which include cremation, conventional burial, burials at sea, and freeze-drying.. If one is cremated, the cremains may be disposed of locally, incorporated in reef balls that are deposited at sea as habitat for fish, or shot into space on rockets.

One of the latest developments is "green burials" in which the body is placed in a biodegradable container and buried in a woods-like environment.

On our website, Haddletonlaw.com, we have posted a research article which I delivered a few years ago at an American Bar Association meeting. This discusses funeral practices and offers a brief discussion on how to make sure that your wishes for your funeral arrangement are carried out.

To read the article go to Resources and look for Articles written by Russell Haddleton.