4-3. What was the Dora Kent case? (Cryonics)
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This article is from the Cryonics FAQ, by Tim Freeman tim@infoscreen.com with numerous contributions by others.
4-3. What was the Dora Kent case? (Cryonics)
Dora Kent is the mother of Saul Kent, a longtime supporter of
cryonics and leader of the Life Extension Foundation. On
December 11, 1987, she was suspended (head-only) by Alcor.
Although Dora was clinically dead at that time, she was not
legally dead due to an administrative oversight.
The coroner autopsied the non-suspended portion of Dora's remains. At
first the conclusion was that Dora died of pneumonia. Later the
coroner retracted this, and on January 7, 1988 the coroner's deputies
took all of Alcor's patient care records and attempted to take Dora's
head for autopsy. Mike Darwin said that the head was not at Alcor's
headquarters and he did not know where it was. Mike Darwin and five
other Alcor members were arrested, but when they arrived at the jail
the police realized that they had no charges to use against them.
On January 12 and 13, the Coroner's deputies, UCLA police, and a SWAT
team again entered Alcor's headquarters and removed all computing
equipment in sight, all magnetic media including an answering machine
tape, and prescription medications used for suspensions. Many items
were taken that were not on the warrant.
Years of legal wrangling ensued. The final outcome was that the
coroner lost the next election, Alcor's equipment was returned but
damaged, and all charges against Alcor or Alcor members were
eventually defeated or dropped. None of Alcor's patients were
thawed. Fortunately, no suspensions needed to be done while
the police had custody of Alcor's equipment.
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