Last week the Australian company, Southern Cryonics, was successful at freezing their first client, known as ‘Patient One’ in the breakthrough science of Cryonics.

The patient was a man in his 80s who passed away in a Sydney hospital. From there he was transported to the facility in Holbrook, New South Wales. There, his body was cryogenically preserved at -196°C. The company believes that future medical advancements will one day be able to revive him.

Patient One joins 10 frozen brains of patients who were frozen and housed at the site.

The practice of deep-freezing bodies of dead people known as Cryonics is a global phenomenon.

Assuming that scientists are able to work out how to bring people back to life there are other roadblocks to unfreezing the dead. In some cases, they might need to reverse the aging process. And it is vital to quickly heal the condition that killed them in the first place.

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Michigan and Arizona Cryonics

Meanwhile in the US the Cryonics Institute of Michigan has reached capacity with 1,975 patients maintained in a frozen state at the facility.  The on-site patients include 1,374 Americans and 128 Brits, along with 253 beloved pets.

In the facility, professors, students, chefs, and politicians are stored in liquid nitrogen alongside the wealthier patients.

Patient One, Rhea Ettinger was the first person stored in Michigan. She has been “on ice” since 1977.

Her son, Robert Ettinger, was the founder of the Cryonics Institute. He along with both his first and second wives are frozen here.

Another famous US Cryo site is the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Arizona. 

It contains high tech freezers with the frozen bodies of hundreds of patients. There are separate freezing units with just brains preserved for discounted rates.

So far, the remains of 199 people are stored there in liquid nitrogen that keeps the bodies at -275 degrees Fahrenheit - a temperature so cold it stops all cellular function and preserves their state until defrost.

Dr Miriam Stoppard, a critic of cryogenics, says that it “robs the dying of their dignity.” 

But it is worth noting that if terminal patients wish to live longer, and the science of Cryonics can make it happen, it seems wrong to deny anyone their last request to save their own lives.