I. UNIFORM ANATOMICAL GIFT ACT
California Health and Safety Code 7150-7157, original 1968, revised
1970, new Act 1988.
While the act does not state anything about cryonic suspension,
cryonic storage facilities depend on the following language to act:
"7150.5 (a) An individual who is at least 18 years of age may make an
anatomical gift for any of the purposes stated in subdivision (a) of
Section 7153, limit an anatomical gift to one or more of those purposes,
or refuse to make an anatomical gift."
and:
"7153 (a) The following persons may become donees of anatomical gifts for
the purposes stated:
(1) a hospital, physician, surgeon, or procurement organization, for
transplantation, therapy, medical or dental education, research, or
advancement of medical or dental sciences."
Our purposes are research and the advancement of medical sciences.
The cryonics organization is the "Procurement organization," which,
under the definitions in the 1988 law, means "a person licensed,
accredited, or approved under the laws of any state or by the State
Department of Health Services for procurement, distribution, or storage of
human bodies or parts."
This led to Alcor's great "Catch-22"-type problem in the *Roe v.
Mitchell* case, where Alcor was told it was not an approved procurement
organization. "So how do we apply for such approval?" we asked. "There
is no procedure for approval," we were told. After several years of
litigation, the California Court of Appeals, 4th District, agreed that
such a circle of unreasoning could not be used to deny Alcor the ability
to store patients. (A note on this decision is included in the 1994
Annotated Statutes.)