Cryonics debate may be headed to Iowa Supreme Court

The fight for the remains of a Burlington man, who wanted to have a cryonics firm freeze his head after he died, appears headed to the state's highest court.

On Wednesday, Alcor Life Extension Foundation, a non-profit corporation based out of Scotsdale, Ariz., appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court, asking it to review the ruling made by Des Moines County District Court denying to compel the siblings of Orville Martin Richardson to consent to disinter the body of their brother to be suspended in a cryonic process.

Only a notice has been filed in district court, and the particulars of the appeal were not made available Thursday.

Alcor's Cedar Rapids-based attorney, William Vernon referred inquiries to the foundation's executive director, Jennifer Chapman, who could not be reached for comment.

Alcor may point to a series of documents exchanged during the last years of Richardson's life to support its case. In 2004, Richardson signed a lifetime membership that cost $50,000.

Richardson was 81 when he died in February. He was buried in Aspen Grove Cemetery.

District Court Judge John Linn said in a July ruling the dispute between Alcor and Richardson's brother and sister -- David Richardson of Ohio and Darlene Broeker of West Burlington -- did not involve Iowa law covering anatomical gifts or disinterment.

Instead, he pointed to a section of code that deals with who has the right to control the final disposition of a decedent's remains.

Upon Orville Richardson's death, his brother and sister had the right to control the body's final disposition since he had no surviving spouse, children, parents or grandchildren, the judge ruled.

In Iowa, like most states, disinterment has two requirements: if an autopsy is needed and if the body will be reburied. Alcor plans neither.

Linn declined to order the siblings to consent to the disinterment of their brother, saying “consent that is forced or compelled by court order is not consent.”

Attorneys for the foundation said Orville Richardson donate his remains “not only in the hope of potential revival, but also to prove and perfect the process” of cryonic suspension -- the preservation of human remains at very low temperature in the hope that future science can restore them to life, youth and health.

The siblings tried to talk their brother out of the idea and raised their concerns about the procedure. They said they told their brother they would have nothing to do with it, according to documents filed in court.

If Alcor had been allowed to disinter the body, it said it would sever the head, freeze it and cremate the rest of the remains.

John Cray, a local attorney representing David Richardson and Broeker, has not responded to the papers Vernon filed.

He has said in court the siblings are opposed to what Alcor is trying to do.

Cryonics procedures, according to the foundation, ideally should begin within the first one or two minutes after the heart stops, and preferably within 15 minutes.