To Die in Order to Live: The Need for Legislation Governing Post-Mortem Cryonic Suspension
![handle is hein.journals/swulr36 and id is 39 raw text is: TO DIE IN ORDER TO LIVE: THE NEED
FOR LEGISLATION GOVERNING POST-
MORTEM CRYONIC SUSPENSION
Adam A. Perlin*
I wish it were possible.., to invent a method of embalming drowned
persons, in such a manner that they might be recalled to life at any period,
however distant; for having very ardent desire to see and observe the state
of America a hundred years hence, I should prefer to an ordinary death,
being immersed with a few friends in a cask of Madeira. . . , until that
time, then to be recalled to life by the solar warmth of my dear country.
-Benjamin Franklin, 17731
I. INTRODUCTION
In 1789, writing to the French physicist Jean Baptiste Leroy, Benjamin
Franklin famously declared that [i]n this world nothing can be said to be
certain, except death and taxes.2 But imagine for a moment that death, far
from inevitable, is actually avoidable. For cryonicists, the men and women
who ascribe to the science of cryonics, this is exactly the promise that
cryonics holds. Cryonics uses ultra-cold temperature to preserve human
life with the intent of restoring good health when technology becomes
* J.D., 2006, University of Pennsylvania Law School; B.A., 2003, Brandeis University. To
my family, who over the years have granted me the benefit of their love, their wisdom, and
perhaps most importantly, their proofreading skills. I would also like to thank Professor Stephen
Urice for his comments on an earlier draft of this paper, and Andrew Schall for inspiring the topic
of this article and for encouraging my research in this area. Lastly, I would like to thank the
editorial board of the Southwestern University Law Review for their insightful comments and
suggestions.
1. Letter from Benjamin Franklin to Barbeu Dubourg (Apr. 1773), in 6 THE WRITINGS OF
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 43-44 (Albert Henry Smyth ed., 1907).
2. Letter from Benjamin Franklin to Jean Baptiste Leroy (Nov. 13, 1789), in 10 THE
WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 69 (Albert Henry Smyth ed., 1907).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/swulr36&div=7&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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To Die in Order to Live: The Need for Legislation Governing Post-Mortem Cryonic Suspension
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