From: J Corbally (icorb@indigo.ie)
Date: Fri Jul 12 2002 - 17:20:51 MDT
I see two main scenarios in this whole thing;
1) Mr. Williams did indeed leave explicit instructions in his Will stating
his wish to undergo the procedure. It's unlikely a court would go against
a legally sound Will (dotted i's and crossed t's assumed). The daughter
loses the case (if she would even pursue it) and the U.S. has to get used
to the fact that despite their "repulsion" for cryonics, one of their
heroes thought enough of the idea to try it. This would be a victory for
cryonics in general and Alcor in particular. In the case of it going to
court, the victory would set a useful precedent for future cases where the
nature of the disposal might be used as leverage for getting a Last Will
overturned.
I've had personal experience of the problems with elderly people and Wills
(a good story, I'll tell it sometime if I ever meet you all) . The person
holding the most recently dated copy trumps, pretty much most of the time.
2) There is no such statement in the Will or arrangements made, and the
whole mess gets dragged into court and the son loses (as he likely
would). Mr. Williams gets thawed, and the general outcry goes up that "we
must make sure this sort of thing can't happen again". Cryonics would be
under the spotlight and in trouble. Alcor would look like a co-conspirator
in a sordid affair. Bad news indeed.
I'm pretty sure that procedures in the major cryonics institutes are pretty
watertight. If they aren't, then they may end up in serious
trouble. People may very well turn nasty, not to the son or even
necessarily Alcor, but on the whole idea itself. When it comes to
celebrities of any sort, the homework really needs to have been done.
I'm just hoping that the good Mr. Lemler has examined the Will........
James....
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and
crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures
to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid."
-Q, Star Trek:TNG episode 'Q Who'
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