71 year-old Mary Robbins was suffering from cancer when she decided to sign up with Alcor to have her head and brain preserved after death – a deal which also required her to pay a $50,000 annuity to the life-extension foundation to cover preservation costs. She was (is?) one of 915 others who are members of Alcor.
It could have ended there, but it wouldn’t be news if it did. Instead, Mary Robbins’ daughter insists that her mother changed her mind shortly before she died, signing paperwork that would give the family custody of the body – and the $50K annuity.
(Mary Robbins’) daughter, Darlene Robbins, said her mother changed her mind in her last days because of the procedures that preservation would have required before she died, including tubes in her throat and nose, intravenous lines and medications.
This part seems a bit odd. An extended hospital stay means all kinds of poking and prodding, tubes in the nose and throat, IVs in the arms. While I’m not familiar with the finer points of preparation for cryogenic preservation, I can’t imagine that some extra tubes would dissuade someone with advanced terminal illness from changing their mind about signing up with Alcor.
Perhaps understandably, lawyers from Alcor note that Robbins never rescinded her original agreement. While this messy legal battle plays out in the courts, Robbins’ body is being kept frozen with dry ice in a Colorado Springs mortuary.