Sally:
Thanks so much Edward for solving the mystery of Maxim's qualifications. How was I supposed to know she put it on a blog? I certainly did not see her answer my question in her response here. Anyway now we know she was a perfusionist, many years ago, at one clinic in Louisiana. So much for her VAST experience.
This is a fascinating remark, since I don't think I have ever mentioned on my blog, or on this forum, that I worked at "one clinic in Louisiana," though that is true. What this doesn't tell Sally is that the clinic was a group of surgeons who serviced two large hospitals, where we were doing 600 open-heart surgeries a year, (plus a variety of other types of cases), when I resigned. Maybe Kelly has been letting every Tom, Dick, Harry, Steve and Charles have access to my personal SA employee file, again. Or, maybe Sally is one of the SA RUPs, or one of the "Critical Care Relatives," as they were affectionately called, at SA.
Sally:
Of course this still doesn't mean she has any knowledge about cryonics. If she was really interested she would do some training, as I believe the cryonics organizations offer this. HAs she ever taken a training course? HAs she ever studied emergency medicine? If not, I think this makes her less knowledgable than a golf pro, doesn't it?
It would be helpful if Sally would read all the available information, before she spouts off. She seems to conveniently skip over all the past posts that have the answers to nearly all of her questions, as well as my technical posts on topics such as hypothermia and reperfusion injury. I was a consultant at SA for five months, and worked there, fulltime, for another five months, so of course I have attended cryonics training sessions. I helped to organize at least two, and was a co-leader of one. I have had extensive, ongoing communications, regarding scientific and clinical aspects of cryonics, with quite a few people in the field, including Aschwin de Wolf, Ben Best, and people at Alcor. I would say I understand more about cryonics than at least four of the six current SA staff members, who simply don't have the medical/scientific background required to understand many cryonics topics. I never saw any of those four studying cryonics, and they didn't take part in technical discussions, in which, as far as I could see, they had absolutely no interest. And, yes, I have emergency medical training and experience.
Sally:
As for qualifications, I would have thought experience and training are more important.
If Sally was paying attention, she would have seen me write, MANY times, that there is absolutely nothing new about cryonics stabilization procedures, such as administering chest compressions, intubating patients, inserting IV lines, or administering medications. There are hundreds of thousands of people skilled in performing ALL these procedures, none of them on the staff of SA, with the possible exception of Ms. Baldwin. There is also nothing new about perfusion technology, and there are thousands of people educated and VASTLY
experienced in performing perfusion, though none on the staff of SA.
"Cryonics experience" is largely a distractive illusion, no doubt intended on maintaining the status quo of certain "team leaders" and "advisors" who have little-to-no relevant medical experience. Does Sally think Charles Platt's six weeks of hanging out at Timothy Leary's bedside, writing an article for a magazine, (something I believe he counts as "cryonics experience"), makes him adept at inserting an IV into a patient with no blood pressure? Or in safely performing perfusion? Even highly skilled and experienced paramedics and nurses have difficulty gaining IV access on patients without pressure, so how can anyone believe that someone showing up for a handful of cryonics cases, (some of which didn't even go down), in more than a decade, qualifies them to perform these procedures? Anyone who believes this is either grossly uninformed about cryonics "standby, stabilization and transport," or delusional. I would say Sally is both.
The first SA training sessions I attended focused on such highly technical skills as packing ice around a patient, setting up the PIB and Thumper, doing a few chest compressions and eating pizza. Why? Most likely because the person leading the sessions didn't know much more than that, in regard to cryonics medical procedures. There were several paramedics at the training sessions, who seemed bored out of their minds, because they had set up the equipment at every previous training session, and it's something any 12-year-old could do with ten minutes of instruction. They knew exponentially more than any of the SA staff members, in regard to the medical procedures, and they made quite a few suggestions for alternative equipment that was lighter, easier to assemble and less expensive, than the homemade contraptions at SA, but their suggestions were ignored.
Sally:
Cryonics patients need to have FD and Maxim are the ones obsessed with qualifications. But they apply different standards to themselves. That's my point. And then they act as if they are experts even though theyhave never done any work in cryonics cases.
Sally's point is invalid. A cryonics patient needs to have care providers capable of performing the medical procedures I have described above. It would be helpful to have a couple of unskilled people along, to assist with such tasks as packing ice around the patient, recording information, etc., but to think "cryonics experience" can take the place of medical training and experience, is simply ignorant. FD has not claimed to be able to perform the procedures necessary for standby, stabilization and transport of cryonics patients, but unlike Sally, at least he's intelligent and informed enough to realize these ARE the needed procedures and that medical professionals, such as myself, are capable of safely performing them, while SA's RUPs are not.
Sally:
It's amusing that this seems to be such a small field, you and others have to assume I must be someone you already know. I'm not.
Then, how did Sally know I worked in Louisiana? I may have mentioned it and forgotten, but I searched this forum and my blog, and I don't see any mention of it, other than from Sally. Steve Harris once posted the name of a cardio-thoracic surgeon on this forum, without his permission, (which the moderator was gracious enough to edit out). If I do not post the names of the clinic and surgeons I worked with, it is out of consideration for them, as they probably would not want their names associated with cryonics, or mentioned on this forum. They are wonderful, caring devoted individuals and we had a great team, with a mortality rate below the national average. I never had a bit of trouble working with them, and was asked if there was anything they could do to make me stay, when I resigned. Everyone knows my credentials; SA and Alcor have my resume; and Alcor has my letters of recommendation. Should I ever want to work with Harris, or Sally, I'll be glad to give them the same.
I get a kick out of socially inept people, such as Harris and Sally, demanding to know the names of people I worked with, as though they have some authority to check my credentials.
"Embarrassing" was an appropriate title for Sally's post. It's obvious she knows virtually nothing about cryonics procedures, or about the people she is discussing.