Girl’s wish to freeze body exposes UK's legal grey area

LONDON (AA) - It is a story that could be lifted directly out of the screenplay of a classic science fiction movie.

But this story is real: a 14-year-old girl from London has won permission to have her body cryogenically preserved in the hope she can be revived in the future.

She was terminally ill with cancer after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of the disease last year.

The teenager believed that future advances in medical technology could cure her, even if she first had to be conserved for centuries.

A judge approved her request just days before her death last month, when her body underwent a dramatic preservation process and she was transported for storage to the United States.

The story became public Friday after legal restrictions on reporting the case were lifted.

It raised two immediate questions: who is the teenager and can her procedure succeed?

-- Hidden identity

But very little has been made public about the young girl at the center of the case.

It is known that she lived in London and that her parents were divorced.

It is also known that her mother was supportive of the girl’s decision to be cryogenically preserved, but her father – who also suffers from cancer – opposed it.

There are strict rules in the U.K. on identifying children and their families in the media, but these generally do not apply if they die – making this case unusual.

The girl’s name, the hospital where she was treated and even the type of cancer she was suffering from will remain secret under the orders of the Judge, Peter Jackson.

She is referred to as JS in court records, which also made public a letter she wrote to the judge asking for permission to have her body frozen.

“I have been asked to explain why I want this unusual thing done,” she wrote in the letter, according to the judge.

“I am only 14 years old and I don't want to die but I know I am going to die.

“I think being cryo-preserved gives me a chance to be cured and woken up - even in hundreds of years’ time. I don't want to be buried underground.”

JS concluded: “I want to live and live longer and I think that in the future they may find a cure for my cancer and wake me up. I want to have this chance.

“This is my wish.”

-- Complicated science

Cryo-preservation is a commonplace procedure today. Human cells and tissue are routinely preserved in for future use in hospitals around the world: sperm and embryos, for example, can be frozen for future use in fertility treatment.

But cryonics – the process of preserving chronically ill humans in the hope they can be resuscitated and restored to full health when medical science catches up with them – is hugely complicated and controversial.

It has inspired science fiction movies like Alien, where the crew of a spaceship travel the vast distances of space in a form of suspended animation, but in reality there is no guarantee the procedure actually works.

-- Vast costs

Within minutes of a patient being pronounced dead, their body must be cooled using dry ice. Their blood, which can crystalize and damage the veins, is then drained and replaced with a form of “anti-freeze”.

In the case of JS, this process was carried out by Cryonics U.K., a volunteer organization that charges £27,870 ($34,635). Her body was subsequently moved for long-term storage to the United States, where it will be preserved in liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -196 degrees Celsius (-320.8 Fahrenheit).

Costs for long-term storage vary widely. The Cryonics Institute, a facility based in Michigan, charges $28,000 but other organizations place a price tag of up to $200,000.

Many aspiring cryo-patients pay for their preservation by taking out life-insurance policies.

In JS’s case, the funds were collected by her maternal grandparents.

-- Uncertain science

But despite the high costs, there is no guarantee the process will succeed.

“We believe that a very strong case can be made for the probable success of cryonics. But that doesn't mean that social disruptions aren't possible,” the Cryonics Institute said on its website.

“Nuclear war, economic collapse, political strife and terrorism, are all possible, and they could end the lives of cryopreserved patients just as easily as they can end the lives of any of us,” it said.

In JS’s case, although she passed away peacefully and knowing she would be preserved, Judge Jackson said the hospital had expressed misgivings about the way her body was handled.

“The voluntary organization [Cryonics U.K.] is said to have been under-equipped and disorganized, resulting in pressure being placed on the hospital to allow procedures that had not been agreed,” he said.

“Although the preparation of the body for cryogenic preservation was completed, the way in which the process was handled caused real concern to the medical and mortuary staff,” he added.

It is impossible to say how long JS’s body will remain in storage or whether she can be “resuscitated”.

But in the far shorter term it is likely her case will trigger a legal review in Britain.

There are reports that some hospital staff had serious moral concerns with cryonics, but were forced to cooperate in the preservation of her body because it is an area not covered by the U.K. law.