Ted Williams' Cryonics Saga Continues

Hull and Hull LLP — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 06:31:55 -0500

Baseball Hall of Famer, Ted Williams is the news again as a former employee of the cryonics facility in which Williams’ body is preserved is releasing a book detailing alleged mistreatment of Williams’ remains.

By way of background, Williams died in 2002. Within hours of his death, Williams’ body was flown to Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Arizona to be cryonically preserved in hopes of being reanimated in the future. Williams’ head was separated from his body and both preserved separately in liquid nitrogen.

In his 1996 Will, Williams requested to be cremated. However, two of Williams’ children produced a handwritten note signed in 2000 by Williams and themselves stating that they all wanted to be cryonically preserved in hopes of being resuscitated and reunited in the future.

Williams’ eldest child brought proceedings demanding that her father’s body be cremated. Their legal dispute was resolved and Williams remains frozen. Since those legal proceedings, Williams’ son has also died and been cryonically preserved in the same facility.

Alcor Life Extension Foundation, the world’s largest cryonics facility, currently has 88 people preserved and a further 905 signed on for preservation. While cryonics is not specifically prohibited in any province in Canada, British Columbia does have a regulation prohibiting the sale of an arrangement of the preservation or storage of human remains based on cryonics and other processes with the expectation of resuscitation of human remains but does allow a funeral director to prepare a body for cryonics preservation as long as the preparation of the body is in compliance with provincial health regulations and human remains transfer regulations.

Thanks for reading,

Diane Vieira

Diane A. Vieira - Click here for more information on Diane Vieira.

'frozen" - Toronto Estate Law Blog

Ted Williams' Cryonics Saga Continues