Reaction after UK girl's body is frozen

(18 Nov 2016) The lawyer of the dying 14-year-old girl who convinced a High Court Judge to grant her wish of being frozen rather than buried after death, said on Friday the decision gave her client "great comfort in the last days of her life."
Zoe Fleetwood said her client was "bright, intelligent and articulate," and therefore persuaded the court of her capacity to make the decision to be frozen upon dying, in the hope she could continue her life in the future when there is a cure for cancer.
High Court Judge Peter Jackson granted her final wishes in what he called the first case of its kind in England - and possibly the world.
Jackson said the girl had chosen the most basic preservation option at a cost of about 37,000 pounds (46,000 US dollars).
The girl's divorced parents disagreed with the procedure, with the mother favouring it and the father initially saying no, though he softened his stance as his daughter's death neared.
The girl, who along with her parents can't be named for legal reasons, asked the court to designate that only her mother could dispose of her remains so that she could be cryogenically preserved, an unproven technique that some people believe may allow frozen bodies to be brought back to life in the future.
Garret Smyth, a Briton who signed up for the cryopreservation procedure 30 years ago, said he thinks researchers will eventually find a way to keep cells from dying, but probably not during his lifetime.
He said his decision to sign up for cryopreservation was because the benefits of being alive were enormous, even if the life was average.

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