CRYONICS UK

No autopsy please

By Maria Camacho

 Mary was dying of cancer and her health had deteriorated a lot during the last few days. She could feel her life ebbing away now and called both her daughters Ruth and Cara. "What is it mum ?" Cara asked. "I want to see your brother." Mary whispered.  Her son Charles, was one of the best lawyers in London and Mary liked to consult him sometimes. "Are you changing your will again ?" Cara asked while she plumped her mother's pillow. "My time has come," Mary said softly. Mary thought that she might never wake up again if she shut her eyes and tried to stay awake while waiting for her son to arrive. Time passed slowly, Mary's eyelids felt sore and heavy.  Finally she fell into a light sleep interrupted now and then by her daughter's voices as they discussed the possibility of their mother changing her will and leaving part of her money to an unknown charity. A few minutes later a young man woke her up.  "Hello mum," he greeted. "I want to talk to you in private," Mary whispered. "We'll be waiting outside, mother," Cara said as both girls went out of the room. Mary coughed a bit while Charles helped her to sit up on her bed. "I'm leaving part of my money to an American company in order to have my body frozen when I die," she said weakly.   Charles paled.  "My sisters won't like it." Mary coughed again and seemed unable to breath.  Charles became concerned. "Mum," he whispered as he bent over her.

"I gave the documents to you a few months ago.  Can't you remember ? she asked.  "Phone this number if something happens to me." Mary pointed at the shiny bracelet on her left wrist and passed out. "Cara," Charles shouted loudly. Cara ran into the room. Charles was holding his mother's hand and was calling her softly but her eyes were shut and she was making a rasping noise. "I think that she's dying now," he cried and put the bracelet in his pocket. "Oh my god," Cara shouted.  "I must call a doctor." Her sister Ruth, who was proficient in first aid, started to massage her mother's heart. "Mother, can you hear me ?" By now Cara phoned the doctor while Charles was examining the bracelet carefully. There was a telephone number in America and some urgent instructions. "In case of death push 40.000 heparin IV," he read.  "Do CPR while cooling with ice and do not do autopsy or embalm." Ruth was still trying to revive her mother while Cara paced the corridor, waiting for the doctor to arrive. "Can I help with anything ?" Charles asked.  Cara looked at him as tears ran down her pale face. "I don't want mum to die yet." Just then the doctor arrived and went straight to examine the old lady.  "I think that she's gone." "What ?" Ruth shouted and tried to massage her other's heart more vigorously while her sister cried. Charles decided to phone the American company. "Phoenix institute," someone answered. "One of your members has just died," Charles explained. "I'm Steve," the voice at the other end said.  "Can you please give me the number that appears on the bracelet ?" Charles had to shout in order to be heard above all the din. "The doctor is already here," he added. Steve could be heard more clearly now.  "Could you please call him to the phone ?" Charles put the receiver down and went into the room and found the doctor busily giving Mary the kiss of life while both his sisters cried uncontrollably. "There is nothing else I can do," the doctor exclaimed. "Someone wants to talk to you on the telephone," Charles interrupted. The doctor breathed with relief as he left the room. "I hate to be present when one of my patients die." Charles gave him the phone and the doctor's face changed as he was told that Mary had donated her body to a Cryonics company. "She will have an autopsy and then she will get buried like a good Christian," he shouted. "But she signed documents in front of a lawyer," Steve explained. "You cannot have Mary's body and that's final," the doctor said and put the receiver down. Charles thought that he would try and honour his mum's last wishes and phoned America again.   "We don't seem to have the doctor's cooperation and the patient needs to be cooled down straight away," Steve said.  "We have a helpful funeral director in London. You must phone him straight away so that he can do the wash-out but you must cover her body with ice before he arrives. And she cannot have an autopsy." Charles wondered if there was any ice in the freezer.  Just then Cara came in the room and opened the fridge.  "What is going on ? Why do you keep on making telephone calls ?" she asked. "It's something to do with our mother's last wishes," Charles replied. "She left money to an American company to have her body frozen," he explained. Cara dropped a bag of frozen peas to the floor. It broke and they were scattered around the kitchen floor. "I won't let that happen," she shouted. "I'm her lawyer, we must respect her wishes," he explained. Ruth came in the kitchen.  "What's it ?" "That idiot wants to freeze our mother's body," Cara replied. Ruth was holding a rosary which she threw into Charles's face. "Get out of my house. Don't desecrate our other's body !" "Perhaps you mean our house." her sister corrected. "Mother left it to me," Cara spat. The bickering was stopped by Charles. "We all loved our mother very much, didn't we ?" Cara nodded and wept in his arms. He hugged her. "Let's stop fighting over mum's property then." "You are not touching my mum's body !" Ruth shouted. "Calm down," he said. "But we mustn't allow him to freeze our mother," Ruth pleaded with her sister. Charles stood between his sisters and tried to reason with them. Ruth screamed and jumped on him as if she was a wild animal.  "How can you do this to your own mother ?"  "I have got the papers that she signed," Charles replied. "Why would mum trust you ?" Cara asked. Ruth was pounding him with her fists.  "I want to see the documents." Charles held her sister's hands.  "I must now see our mother." "And you will freeze her afterwards, won't you ?" Cara asked.     Charles went into the room, touched his mother's face and wept quietly as he held her hand.     "She's dead," the doctor whispered. "I know," Charles replied.  "And you have been told about her last wishes." "Look," the doctor said.  "My job is to save lives and not to deal with people who want to be frozen meat." Cara covered her mother's body with the flowery duvet.  "You cannot prove that she wanted to get frozen, can you ?" "I have already told you that I have the documents at my home," Charles answered.     The doctor took his case.  "I have to go now.  The undertaker will come along soon." Charles helped the doctor to carry his bag. "She will have an autopsy, her brain will be put in her abdominal cavity and she'll be buried like a good Christian," the doctor told him. Charles went back into the house and heard Cara speaking on the phone.  He brought bags of ice to the bedroom and put them around Mary's body.  He was pleased with his job as her whole body was now being cooled down.  The doctor appeared at the door. "I forgot my notes," he said.  "He picked up a notebook and looked at the ice bags.  "The undertaker will soon remove them." The doctor left and Charles made sure that the ice covered the head properly.  Suddenly somebody tapped his shoulder.  He turned around to find a well built policeman standing over him.  "What are you doing, sir ?" he enquired.  Cara was next to him, looking very pleased with herself.

"I'm just cooling my mother down.  It isn't an offence, is it ?" "But she's dead," the policeman replied. "I know," Charles told him. The policeman looked amused.  "Why are you doing it then sir ?"

"She wanted to have her body frozen after death," Charles answered. The officer moved to the door.  Cara was speechless.  "Aren't you going to arrest him ?" "Putting ice around a dead person's body it's not an arrest able offence as far as I know," the policeman replied and Charles could hear his sister arguing and shouting as the police officer was opening the front door.  He decided to bring the old handbag with the documents that his mother had given him.  It was only to be opened after her death.

Charles came back with the documents but found the house empty.  He didn't want his mother's brain to be destroyed by an autopsy so he wrapped her body in the duvet, taking care not to drop the bags of ice cubes and made his way to the car. He saw his sisters coming back home accompanied by a man that he presumed it was the undertaker chosen by them.  Charles revved up the engine as he sped down the road.  His mobile burst into music.  He took it out if his pocket and as he switched it on he could hear Cara's voice amidst loud shouts.  "The police are looking for you because you've stolen our mother's body." "I haven't stolen it." he shouted back.  I'm merely sending her to the future and not condemning her to eternal damnation and disintegration in the bowels of the earth." "That's your opinion.  I believe in life after death," Cara shouted.

 The lights now changed into green and the cars behind him were honking.  "I've got to go now.  Bye sister."  He could hear the wailing of a police car at the distance and had the sudden image of his mother being thrown into the merciless cremation fire or being eaten by worms.  Charles arrived at the Albion funeral parlour but as he approached the front door he saw a few police cars parked in front so quickly he drove away again. He went back later.  A group of mourners who were putting flowers on a grave looked with curiosity as the tall man, carrying someone wrapped in a duvet walked along the remembrance gardens.  He went through the glass doors and put his mother's body behind a desk. A small woman, dressed in black, with her grey hair in a bun appeared from behind.  "Can I help you ?" she asked. "I want to see Mr. Albion." "He's busy at the moment," the woman replied. "It's a matter of life and death," Charles explained and pointed at Mary's body. The woman was visibly shaken.  "Did you kill her ?"

 "No," Charles almost shouted. "She's my mother and I want to freeze her." At that moment Mr. Albion appeared.  He was a tall man, dressed in black and was wearing a top hat.  "Are you Charles ? Your sister has just phoned us." An insect was buzzing around and Charles tightened the duvet full of melting ice around his mother's body. "Could you please do the wash out now ?"  Mr. Albion took Mary's body to a special freezer at the back of his funeral parlour and placed her on ice, he then opened the folder to consult his notes. She was obviously a member of the Phoenix institute," he finally said.  "But the coroner might want to do an autopsy."  "She cannot have an autopsy," Charles protested. Mr. Albion took his telephone out of his pocket.  "That's not for me to decide." Charles moved to the freezer and tried to open it. "I'm not giving my consent for my mother's

body to be opened." "The coroner won't need your consent.  He'll do whatever is necessary and we are powerless to stop him," Mr. Albion replied.     Charles sat down and sobbed.  "I don't want my mother's brain to be taken out and put in her abdominal cavity." "It's the law of the land," Mr. Albion explained. Charles looked at the big freezer.  "Can we at least do the wash out before the coroner arrives ?"  "I cannot touch her or otherwise I would be breaking the law." Charles dried his wet face.  "But you are condemning my mother to absolute death, aren't you ?" "She's already dead," Mr. Albion mumbled. "She's dead by our standards but not if we were years ahead in the future."  "Listen," Mr. Albion said.  "I have to obey the law otherwise I'll be in trouble." A plump man with a round face came in.  He had a bag full of instruments and Charles watched in horror as he took out a few sharp knives. "No," Charles shouted. The man looked annoyed and ordered Charles to get out of the room. "You are not cutting her," Charles screamed but Mr. Albion pulled him away. "You don't want me to call the police, do you ?"     Charles sat in a corner and wept.  Cara and Ruth suddenly came in, accompanied by the small woman. "I don't understand why he's crying," the woman said.  "It seems as if the coroner was cutting his body instead." Charles walked to the door, opened it slowly and saw the coroner inserting his sharp knife into his mother's motionless body.  He gave a loud groan. "I told you to stay outside, didn't I ?" the man barked. "He's not going to touch the head," Mr. Albion whispered. Charles breathed with relief. "Will you prepare her to be frozen then ?" Mr. Albion nodded.  "But he must be allowed to work in peace first." Charles wiped his tears as he went back to his seat next to Ruth.   "I'm sorry about this morning," she whispered softly. "It's all right," Charles replied.  "You were doing what you thought was best for mum."  "I still believe that she is going to heaven," she told him.

The End.