Legally dead, illegally frozen? The legal aspects of cryonics as discursively constructed online by providers and the media

Cryonics is defined as the practice or technique of cryogenically preserving a person’s body with the aim of reviving it in the future; esp. the cryogenic preservation of a person with an incurable disease until such time as a cure is found. As such, it is a practice that mixes viable existing technology, i.e. cryopreservation with currently unattainable objectives such as resuscitation from death. Its hybrid nature makes it scientifically questionable yet highly fascinating at a popular level. This is well reflected in the number of publications that have dealt with it since its inception, in the 1960s. The legal aspects revolving around cryonics also emerge from the frequency, this time quite high, of the word legal. They seem to regard specific cases, though, and not the legality of cryonics in itself, which could be expected since, as seen in the Background section above, the practice is far from regulated.