“Thank you Dr. Mohammad,” stood the tall, lanky psychologist of Han Chinese decent. With an instant command she pulled up a very professional, clean, well developed, but simplified and easy to follow diagram on everyone’s display. She was very dynamic, easy to listen too, and if it weren’t for the fact the people which she was addressing were in a very difficult situation, the presentation might have been with light words and humor. “…There are five criteria that we can judge a personality and by your testimonies on your observations of your parents, they seem to have high marks in all five. Less than one in ten personalities meet even the minimum criteria … ,” she hesitated with the next statement, unaccustomed to not being the sunshine of any room, “but I have to be honest and this is the part that is most painful to say: even when they do have the right personality types there is a less than 15% survival rate up to five years after the procedure. The majority undergo so much psychological stress that it causes them to mentally, … shut down. That means they grieve to death over their inability to cope, and it may mean far more suffering than if they were allowed to finish their lifespans in their previous bodies. But still, in my opinion, if there was anyone I think that could be the ones most likely to succeed, both your parents would be my first pick.”
When Dr. Yuan was done, the floor was handed over to Dr. Xu of the Legal Department. There was no living will for the Hendersons, just ancillary evidence that they both, in passing conversations, would largely be uninterested in delaying the natural end of their lives but would most likely allow it if there were sudden extenuating circumstances. Karen Henderson would only want to go through it if her husband had done so, so as to minimize the amount of time one would have to carry on in this world without the other. It was a video clip from a Christmas celebration where casual “shoot-the-breeze” random conversations were normal that may have saved their lives. If there were candidates for “extenuating circumstances,” what better candidate than this circumstance? Dr. Xu reiterated that when the Hendersons regain consciousness, the procedure would be finished and they could not reverse the decision made by the family. The ball was completely in their survivors’ court at that instant in time.
“I should remind you what I’m sure your attorney has said. In Virginia, as agents under power of attorney, you may choose the surrogate, and the caregiver or caregivers, and the consultant. You have the option of selecting the surrogate as the caregiver, and most people choose this option, but it is not legally necessary.” finished Dr. Xu.
Dr. Williamson went over the procedure in a dry but informative matter, but very briefly too, sensing that the room was losing energy exponentially and she realized that she was in no way a mood enhancer when she talked. Bishop Martin advised the council that he stood by the church’s decision that it was acceptable, when circumstances warrant, for people to undergo the bioregeneration process if it was felt by those who can make the decision that God had willed them to accept the procedure. This was the view shared by the Pope, Dahli Lama, and just about every spiritual leader in the world, as there would be no loss of life because the initial embryo which was to become the surrogate body. would be genetically altered to not create any cognitive functions at all. The nanobots would take brain cells from the host and convert them into younger versions of them in the target embryo/fetus at the right stages and the right times, while the surrogate host would be induced into a coma.