My Blog

Bridging the Gap: How Hospice Can Improve Your Cryopreservation Outcome

By Steve LeBel

One of the most crucial—yet often overlooked—vulnerabilities in cryonics is the period between your imminent clinical death and the initiation of cryopreservation procedures. During this critical window, any delay can result in ischemic damage and compromise your future revival prospects. Even with well-documented plans and prepaid arrangements, too many cryonics members rely on informal local contacts or simply hope for a fast response from emergency standby providers or a local funeral home.

The Problem: Time Is Not On Our Side

Cryonics protocols work best when action is taken before and immediately after legal death. Every minute counts. Unfortunately, even if you’ve made all the right arrangements with Cryonics Institute (CI) and Suspended Animation (SA), you are still dependent on local responders (friends, family, EMS, or unprepared caregivers) to close the gap. Too often, they:

  • Don’t know who to call
  • Lack understanding of the urgency
  • Fail to notify key organizations in time
  • The pronouncement of death is often delayed

The Hospice Solution

After speaking with Bob Cahill, the recently retired CEO of Hospice of Michigan (one of the largest hospices in the U.S.), I learned more about how hospice organizations can play a vital role in addressing this gap—if you set them up properly in advance.

Here’s how hospice can help:

  • Continuity and Readiness: They maintain electronic records of your medical information, including your cryonics wishes and contact instructions.
  • 24/7 Clinical Oversight: Some hospices around the country (including Hospice of Michigan) offer 24/7 access for you and your support system. In larger organizations, these phones are typically staffed by nurses and physicians for top quality responses to urgent conditions.
  • Onsite Personnel: Most hospices provide onsite staff to you at home and monitor your condition. They are highly qualified to know when it’s time to call your emergency standby provider like SA.
  • Expertise: Hospices understand the support and management required at end-of-life. And they are more likely to recognize when death is imminent.
  • Emergency Notification: Hospices can immediately call Cryonics Institute, Suspended Animation, or your funeral home with full understanding of what needs to happen.
  • Death Pronouncement: They can also facilitate a prompt death pronouncement—often the biggest delay point.

Eligibility for Hospice / Palliative Care

There is a distinction between hospice care and palliative care. Both of them provide medical care. In the case of hospice, patients must typically have a diagnosis indicating a life expectancy of six months or less. Palliative care, on the other hand, provides specialized medical care focused on relieving symptoms, pain, and stress associated with serious illness – regardless of the patient’s prognosis or life expectancy, a much lower threshold.

Depending on your situation, you may not be eligible for hospice or even palliative care at this time. It is still important to research your options and make a plan now. Waiting until you find yourself in a serious decline is not the time to make these decisions.

What to Know About Hospice / Palliative Care

There are about 4,500 hospice organizations in USA. Some are quite small and have limited resources. You are looking for:

  • Larger hospice care providers because they are more likely to have a 24/7 call center with trained staff (nurses and physicians) taking the calls. They are most likely to have access to your medical records so they know what you need and want.
    • Hospice services are covered by Medicare. Patients rarely have out-of-pocket costs.
  • Look for large hospice providers that offer palliative care services as part of their continuum of care.
    • Starting palliative care with a provider whose primary business is hospice care means they can refer you to their hospice branch quickly when the time comes.
    • Palliative (only) providers (especially hospitals) offer palliative care as an add-on service that may not transition smoothly into hospice care.

Recognition of Imminent Death

How do you know when you’re about to die? After all, none of us have ever had it happen before. That’s where hospice comes in. Their staff have great experience with end-of-life scenarios and are adept at recognizing when death is coming. This expertise helps them know when to contact emergency standby providers such as SA. This gives your provider time to mobilize and arrive at your bedside where they can deliver all-important services and prepare transport to the cryonics facility.

The Death Pronouncement Issue

Ischemia is the lack of blood flow and oxygen to tissues, most importantly the brain. Tissue damage begins as early as 5 minutes after death. Getting your body released to cryonicists as soon as possible is critical. But that can’t happen until the pronouncement of death.

Generally, this is the standard practice when someone dies. The person discovering the death must call 911. This triggers the EMS (Emergency Medical Service) who then go to the body. They may attempt resuscitation unless a valid DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) order is presented; if death is obvious and irreversible, they may stop interventions. They cannot declare death – they must contact local medical control (an on-call physician who supervises the EMS). Only a licensed physician or medical examiner can issue the legal death pronouncement. Police often arrive and investigate, especially if the death was “unattended” (no doctor overseeing care). The police may contact the medical examiner, triggering further delays or even an autopsy. Once the medical examiner or attending physician gives approval, an official death pronouncement is finally made. Only then can the body be legally transported.

The hospice patient can have a different experience. Hospice nurses (RNs) in most states can be authorized to legally pronounce death (not to certify it, which must be done by the attending physician or medical examiner). They can do this because 1) the patient is in hospice care, 2) there is a DNR order, and 3) the death occurs in the home or hospice facility, not in a hospital. No waiting for EMS, police, or the medical examiner. This faster death pronouncement significantly accelerates the critical cryonics timeline.

What to Do Now

If you want to integrate hospice/palliative care into your suspension plan, follow these steps:

1. Research Hospices in Advance

  • Contact a reputable hospice provider (one with 24/7 medical access).
  • If you have health issues, then review their palliative vs. hospice services.
  • If your health doesn’t qualify you for enrollment, let them know you’re interested in learning about them for the future, and you’ll be advising your family and others about your preference for them when the time comes.

2. Confirm Their Capability

  • Make sure the hospice / palliative care organization understands and agrees to participate in a time-sensitive response.
  • Ask how they keep your records (including your Emergency Contact sheet) and whether it’s accessible during a 2 a.m. death call.

3. Create Your Cryonics Protocol Sheet (Emergency Contact Sheet)

  • Your name and CI membership number
  • Contacts for Cryonics Institute, Suspended Animation LLC, and your funeral home
  • Specific instructions:
    • Upon death or imminent death, call these numbers immediately. Time is critical to preserve viability.
    • Expedite the declaration of death.

4. Coordinate With CI, SA, and Your Funeral Home

  • Let CI and SA know which hospice you’ve chosen.
  • Ask if they’d like to send any standing instructions or authorization forms to the hospice.
  • Make sure your funeral home (i.e., urgent transport provider) is also in the loop.

5. Keep Everything Updated

  • Review your plan (including your Cryonics Protocol Sheet) annually.
  • Make sure your designated Power of Attorney for Healthcare and family know the hospice’s role and how that fits into your cryonics plan.

Why This Matters

When your death occurs, it’s too late to troubleshoot. You need a trusted medical entity ready to act instantly, with full knowledge of your cryonics arrangements. Hospice can be that entity. By planning now, you greatly improve the odds of a rapid, well-executed transition to cryopreservation.

Using hospice resources is low-cost, reliable strategy already embedded in the healthcare system. It’s one of the smartest additions you can make to your cryonics planning.

If you have questions or want help discussing your hospice strategy, reach out to me. I’m happy to share what I’ve learned.

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About the Author

Steve LeBel is a retired hospital CEO and an advocate for cryonics preparedness and planning. He is signed up with the Cryonics Institute and works to bridge the gap between end-of-life care and timely cryopreservation.

📧 Email: steve@stevelebel.com 
🌐 Website: www.stevelebel.com

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My Personal Cryopreservation Plan

by Steve LeBel

Several years ago, I became interested in cryonics – the idea of freezing the body after death in the hope of being revived at some point in the future when medical science has advanced to the point where 1) it can bring you back, and 2) it can cure whatever killed you.

As I’ve aged, I’ve given more thought to the idea.

Facility Visits

About five years ago, I arranged to visit both Alcor and the Cryonics Institute, the two oldest and largest cryonics providers in the world. Frankly, I was impressed by the facilities and the people I met.

After some consideration, I chose the Cryonics Institute (CI) which is just a three-hour drive from where I live in Michigan. They have the largest number of cryonic patients, and they have taken great advantage of economies of scale to keep their costs remarkably low. I found them open-minded and easy to deal with.

Signing Up

The CI paperwork was extensive – lots of forms to sign and get notarized. I began to realize we are in uncharted territory for the industry as a whole. I also signed up as a lifetime member, rather than paying annual dues.

Transport by Funeral Company to CI

I made arrangements with a local funeral home (Sytsema Funeral Home) to do a rapid transport from wherever I died to CI. It was easier for them to understand when they thought of me as a ‘whole body donor.’ They were already used to transporting bodies across the state to University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. They agreed to follow CI’s Funeral Directors’ Guidelines – Patient Transport in Ice, and I agreed to transportation fees that would be paid by CI, including a bonus payment if my body arrives quickly.

The Urgency of Ischemia

Over time, I learned more about ischemia, the destruction of body cells that begins as soon as the heart stops pumping. Brain damage begins minutes after the heart stops, so fast intervention is critical.

Emergency Standby Provider Needed

When I heard about emergency standby providers like Suspended Animation, LLC (SA) who arrive at my bedside with equipment and readiness to conduct and/or prepare me for the cryonics procedures and transport me to CI. It made a lot of sense. The key is to know when to contact them.

Hospice as a Way to Bridge the Gap

How do you know when to contact your emergency standby provider. If you are in hospice, you will have professionals who can recognize when death grows imminent. They are in an excellent position to know when to contact your Emergency Standby Provider.

And something else that’s very important. Hospice nurses in most states can be authorized to issue a pronouncement of death when 1) the nurse is an RN, 2) there is a DND (do not resuscitate) order, and 3) you die at home or in hospice. This is big because the normal routine is to contact 911, wait for the EMS to arrive, probably involved the police who may want an autopsy or to involve the medical examiner. The body can’t be moved until the declaration of death, and those extra steps take time from implementing your cryopreservation procedures.

At this point, I’m not eligible for hospice (and I’m not complaining!); you have to have a diagnosis where your expected life span is six-months for less. But I have chosen a hospice organization to contact in the future:  Hospice of Michigan.  They are one of the largest in the country with in home care, 24/7 call center, and highly experienced staff.

Summary

This is my current strategy for ensuring to the extent possible that I achieve a successful cryopreservation. As I continue to identify gaps in the strategy, I will continue to try to close them.

I would appreciate your comments and any additional thoughts you may have on how your own cryopreservation strategy and/or how mine can be improved.


Organizations named in this post:


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About the Author

Steve LeBel is a retired hospital CEO and an advocate for cryonics preparedness and planning. He is signed up with the Cryonics Institute and works to bridge the gap between end-of-life care and timely cryopreservation.

📧 Email: steve@stevelebel.com 
🌐 Website: www.stevelebel.com

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Meet Your Neighbors

From the July 2019 issue of the Harbour Towne Condo Association (HTCA) Newsletter.

Steve and Marge LeBel


How/Why we moved to Harbor Towne.

On July 4, 2006, we were in Muskegon having dinner with a friend at Docker’s. We remarked how much we loved the beauty and peacefulness of Muskegon. Our friend asked if we ever thought about moving back. Next thing we knew, we were viewing the model condo in Harbor Towne. We took copies of the floor plans back to Flint where we’d lived since getting married in 1970. We both liked the Town House model and decided to contact a realtor. We drove back the following weekend. The decision to leave our friends and family – we have one married daughter and several furry grandkitties – was difficult. We eventually settled on the first condo we’d seen, the one with the great western view of the pond. We signed a contract in August and closed in January of 2007. At that time, we still had an Internet business and a house to sell in a bad housing market. But, it all worked out. We sold the house and the business within a week of each other and drove straight to our new condo, the summer of 2007. We love it here.

About Steve

Steve grew up in Muskegon, graduated from Mona Shores HS, and received degrees in psychology and counseling from both MSU and U-M. He began a career in counseling and eventually spent 17 years as president of a mental health and substance abuse hospital before retiring in 1997. The retirement didn’t take, and he started an Internet company (website design and hosting), running it for 10 years before selling the company and moving back to Muskegon where he became interested in the stock market and spent 6 years writing computer programs to do his trading. Not content with retirement, five years ago, he started writing young adult fantasy novels (like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson); his books have won 16 national and international awards.

About Marge

Marge is a retired math teacher. She taught both Junior High and Adult Education in the Flint Community School system. Retiring in 2000, she was then drafted into Steve’s Internet company as the bookkeeper and still does the books for Steve’s publishing company, Argon Press. Growing up in Dearborn, where there is mostly cement, she loves the wildlife here, especially the waterfowl. She loves to read and paint. Her painting hobby lead to a surprising second career as a commissioned portrait painter specializing people and animals. Marge has won local and international awards for her work.

HTCA Involvement (Steve & Marge)

Steve helps out on Harbour Towne (HTCA) projects from time to time, including playing a principle role in the creation of HTCA’s CCIS (online request system), early work on the HTCA website and hosting, helping launch the HTCA newsletter, as well as several other projects over the years.

Marge is the chairperson for the Welcoming/Social Committee. She feels strongly about welcoming every new owner, introducing them to our community, and giving them the chance to ask questions of current residents. She also enjoys helping plan the Summer and Holiday parties.

More Stuff

Steve and Marge love to travel. In the last two years, they’ve been to Egypt, Italy, Spain, Algeria, Washington DC, and Florida. In the next year, they have trips planned to Japan, Scandinavia, Finland, Estonia, and Russia. They love hearing people’s travel stories.

Naturally, they both have websites: https://stevelebel.com and http://margelebel.com

We love it here. We enjoy our condo friends, the Big Lake, and the wildlife

Book Talk / The Book Nook & Java Shop

I had fun last night.

I was invited to do a talk about my books at the Book Nook & Java Shop in Montague, Michigan.  If you aren’t familiar with the Book Nook, it’s a great bookstore with lots of books, a coffee station, a bar, comfortable seating, and even a stage for authors, folk singers, and other performers.

I was very pleased to have been invited.  I’ve heard wonderful things about the Book Nook, and it gave me a chance to meet Bryan, the store owner.

Last night I had a chance to talk about my writing and my books.  It was a fun reminder of how I got started on this path of writing.  But you know what really thrilled me?  It was seeing how many people actually stopped by to see me.  I even met people I’d never met before except through email.  That has to be one of the most interesting things about writing: you get to meet people you’d never have met otherwise.  And I love it.

One of my good friends took pictures of me when it was my turn to talk.  (Thanks, Liz & Wes.)  You made me look good!

 

Book Signing Event – August 7th

3D - The Universe Builders 03 for emailMuskegon Center for the Arts / Red Lotus Gallery will be hosting a Book Signing Event for Steve LeBel and his new book.

The Universe Builders is a humorous fantasy about Bernie, a young god who has just graduated from God School.  Join him as he sets out to build his first universe.  Is he up to the task?  Perhaps.  But what if another god is deliberately trying to sabotage his efforts?

  • When:  Thursday, August 7th, from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
  • Where:  356 W. Western Ave, Muskegon, MI   (formerly the Century Club)
  • Who:  Everyone is invited.  Don’t miss it because all your friends will be there.  🙂
  • Food:  Wine, cheese, and other good food will be available.
  • Parking:  Additional parking in the back of the building has elevator access.

Additional copies of the book will be available at discount prices.

Join us in celebrating Steve’s newest book.

  • Bonus:  The gallery will have a number of Marge LeBel’s paintings on display.  So you get a two-for-one.  Come and have some fun.

For more information about the book and the author:

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Buy on Amazon:   http://amzn.to/VIzMof
Fresh with his diploma from God School, a young god tries to build his first universe.
Plagued by a deadly enemy and aided by his friends, he struggles to make a world to be proud of.
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That’s a big relief!

For those of you following the saga of my broken leg, I have an update for you.

medical-errors-cartoonIt has been 15 months since I broke my leg.

It happened on the first day of our vacation in Rome.  I have tried not to be critical of the healthcare I received in Italy, but, honestly, there were a few problems.  And, contrary to what some of you have suggested, my biggest problem was NOT a lack of internet access.  However, I won’t bore you with that.

The break was fixed with a rod inserted inside my tibia and held in place with two sets of screws.  Unfortunately, the screws were not positioned properly and for six months, the edges of the broken bone were held too far apart by the rod to heal.

The solution?  Remove one set of screws, so the bone edges could come closer together.  We did that in April 2013.  In the recovery room, I asked my doc if I needed to take any special precautions.  “No.  Use it.  Abuse it.  No problems,” he said.

It didn’t work out that way.

The rod was too long and the gap between my broken bone was still too great to allow the bone edges to come together.  Further, with the screws gone, the bone was no longer held in place.  I could no longer walk without crutches.

second-opinion-cartoonThis produced an interesting problem.  With every step, my weight went into the rod, which was bolted to the upper part of my leg.  Since the bone edges still weren’t touching, the rod ground it’s way down through the inside of my tibia.  In June, when looking at the x-rays, I noticed the rod was about to break through into my ankle joint.

The solution?  I changed doctors.

I spoke with several physicans about what to do when we have a non-union after so much time.  Most of them suggested the entire operation be redone.  This time, they would take out the rod, use a ‘scratcher’ inside my leg bone to make it bleed, and then put in a bigger rod.  I really didn’t want to do that again.

ist2_4605577-cartoon-doctorMy new doctor suggested that instead of redoing everything, we might try removing the last set of screws (the one that holds the rod tight to leg bone above the break.  He said the tibia in that region is softer than the ankle, and the rod will be able to move up toward the knee instead of down into the ankle.  I agreed and in July, we removed the last of the screws.

In October we did more x-rays.  To my relief, the rod was no longer moving downward.  To my disappointment, the bone edges, although now in good proximity to each other, were not showing signs of bone growth.  Admittedly, until July, the bones were never close enough to have done much.  However, in three months, we should have seen something.  To make things worse, I actually have a ‘butterfly fracture’ which involves more separation of the bones and is much harder to heal.

1787890-71808-set-of-different-radiation-signs-over-whiteWe agreed to give it another three months.  During that time, I asked for a ‘bone stimulator’.  This device uses electrical pulses and magnetic fields to wake up your body and get it to start generating bone matter.  (I’m glad I don’t plan on fathering any more children.)  My doc wrote the prescription and my insurance paid for it.

In the last three months, I used it every day.  I have also been walking on Marge’s new treadmill to further stimulate the bone growth.

Today was the big day.  Would the x-rays show that my bones were finally healing?  Or was it time to admit failure and schedule the surgery?

The answer is:  bone growth demonstrated.  No surgery needed.  Keep doing what you’re doing, he said.  Come back in 4 months.  Stay away from doctors in the meanwhile.

Mission AccomplishedOkay, okay.  Don’t give me a hard time for saying, “Mission Accomplished.”  I know it ain’t.  But it feels like I just passed a big hurdle and from now on, it’s much smaller steps.

Big Day.

Big Relief.

For those of you who have put up with me (and still have a few more months of having to do so), I thank you…

 

Churchill on Writing

Writing Bernie and the Putty has been an amazing experience.  I found a quote that really resonates with me:

“Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.”                                                                   – Winston Churchill

I can’t wait to push Bernie out of the nest.  Sure hope he can fly.

Status of My Book

I’ve used my website for many purposes over the years – at first just a place to hang my resume – but lately it has become a place to post some of my writing.  In the last year, I’ve written humorous stories about my youthful adventures in Rocket Building and more recently, the thrill of launching Sky Lanterns.  As many of you know, in the last few months, I decided to take on an even more ambitious project:  a full-length novel.

The novel is now largely complete.  It’s 110,000 words long (whew!).  More amazing still is that over 30 of my friends have offered to read it and give me feedback, for which I will always be very grateful.  🙂

Right now, I am compiling the feedback from my reviewers and incorporating their suggestions as best I can.  One thing I have learned about the editing process is that it’s never really done.  There will always be things to change and improve.

The Self-Publishing Option

self-publish-cartoonThe natural thing to consider at this point is submitting my book to literary agents or publishers to get it published.  The more I read, the more I question this assumption.  The process of finding a literary agent, who then will try to find a publisher, who will then eventually publish can take a very long time.  It is common for this to take two years or longer.

What is the alternative?  Interestingly, 2/3’s of all the books published in USA are self-published.  This is actually a relatively simple process, and it can be done in a matter of hours.  The real challenge is how do you effectively promote your book?  How do you tell people about your book when there are 700,000 other books (this year alone!) trying to do the same thing?  A very tough question.

So I am taking a ‘time out’ while I research the road ahead.

If I had to guess, I would say I will end up self-publishing.  But more on that later…