In Australia, a cryonics company frozen its first patient with the goal of reviving him later. Southern Cryonics, the first known cryonics facility in the Southern Hemisphere, reportedly announced that it has cryogenically frozen its first client at its Holbrook facility, according to ABC News Australia. The 80-year-old client passed away in Sydney and was frozen at minus 200 degrees Celsius. He is now known by the company as "Patient One."
Southern Cryonics' facility manager, Philip Rhoades, told ABC News. "That was what was keeping me awake for a week because there are a number of different procedures to go through for different days, and there were a number of situations that might have gone wrong if we hadn't prepared properly," he added.
"There were a couple of other people who were existing members who we thought might be likely candidates for being the first but, as it turned out, it was someone who wasn't an existing member," Rhoades said.
"His family rang up out of the blue and we had about a week to prepare and get organised," the manager stated. He explained that his team then tested all the cryonics equipment and were mostly prepared. "But it's still a little bit different when you are doing a real case," he said.
"Patient One" passed away on May 12 at a Sydney hospital, according to ABC News. Then, right away, the ten-hour procedure to preserve his body in the hopes of reviving it started. After being moved into the hospital's cold room and filled with ice, the man's body was brought down to about 6 degrees Celsius. The body was then given a shot of a liquid that functions as a kind of antifreeze to help preserve cells and bring down body temperature.
After that, the patient was packed in dry ice and covered with a specific kind of sleeping bag. After his body temperature was lowered to about minus 80 degrees Celsius, he was moved the following day to the Holbrook facility of Southern Cryonics, where he was kept on dry ice until a supply of liquid nitrogen arrived. After that, the man's body temperature was lowered even lower to minus 200 degrees Celsius, and he was placed in a unique tank that functions as a vacuum storage pod.
According to the outlet, the client had to pay extra for medical teams to assist with the preservation process, bringing the total cost of the procedure to $170,000 (nearly Rs. 94 lakh). According to the company, this 10-hour procedure is intended to raise the possibility that the deceased will be raised from the dead.
Remarkably, the Holbrook facility can accommodate four bodies in its single dewar at the moment. The Holbrook location can accommodate up to 40 bodies, and the company anticipates that additional space may be required in the near future.
