May 4, 2019

Bahareh Bina (A-3240), a non-confidential female neurocryopreservation member from Bellevue, King County, Washington, became Alcor’s 168th patient on April 29, 2019.

On April 27th, Alcor deployed contractor Suspended Animation (SA) to Washington state, accompanied by Alcor’s Medical Response Director, Chris Divver, as an observer. The standby team set up at the house of Ms. Bahareh Bina that evening. Bahareh was a 33-year old female member with mesenchymal chondrosarcoma, a form of cancer. She had been released from a hospital into home hospice care. The member and her family did not want to relocate to hospice care in Scottsdale, AZ.

It was discovered that King County stood out from other counties in the state by being especially demanding and difficult when it comes to obtaining a transit permit to move a legally deceased person out-of-state. Although, in Washington state, a hospice RN can make a legal pronouncement of death over the phone from family, without having to see the patient, they cannot help with the transit permit. Efforts by the team avoided the potential delay.

Bahareh Bina was pronounced legally deceased at 11:53 by a hospital nurse on April 29, 2019, in Bellevue, Washington. Despite concerns, surgery and washout went quickly and smoothly and paperwork was organized and received quickly. Cooling, stabilization, and medication administration followed. SA’s surgeon and perfusionist conducted a whole-body washout with organ preservation solution. Bahareh arrived by plane in Phoenix at 21:00 and arrived at Alcor at 22:15. Cryoprotection started sooner after, followed by cool down.