You're solo and you die or something major

[closeanuf]

Thread says if you die or something so I guess my question would fit here.  When I die I have made arrangements with the local medical school to take my body to do with as they need.  I carry a donor card under my drivers license and have the donor logo on my drivers license.  While traveling from Indiana back to Texas this week I had occasion to use the emergency room at the hospital in Joplin, Mo.  If you need an ER that is a great place to go.  Got me to wondering what would happen if I were to die away from the area served by my medical school I am registered with.  Anyone know the answer?  Guess I'll contact my med school and see.  I'm not allowing anyone to have a funeral for me so it's just a matter of disposing of my body and recycling it or using it for educational purposes.

 

[John61CT]

Likely up to them as to whether they need the corpse enough to pay for transportation.

Probably best to add a clause to say "any nearby medical school in the event. . ."

 

[TrainChaser]

Mr. Noodley: "This reminds me of the old joke about hunter who got lost in the forest... He started to worry because it was getting dark and he only had two arrows left."

True story from when I lived in OR, but I think the incident was in N. CA: A hunter got separated from his buddies, and after while, he fired three shots, then kept walking. He fired three more shots and kept walking. His buddies heard his shot, knew what they meant, and went looking for him, using the sound for direction. But every time they got to where he had been, he was gone. He kept firing and moving, until he finally either sprained his ankle or broke his leg and HAD to stop. THEN they found him.

 

[user 2252]

I couldn't think of a better place to die than the beautiful desert in the southwest.

 

[highdesertranger]

if I am solo and I die. what difference does it make? I mean if I am dead I really won't care. highdesertranger

 

[steamjam1]

I figure if its my turn to go, then its my turn to go.. But as Teddy Roosevelt once famously said: "I hope death catches me in my sleep so I won't feel so compelled to fight it."

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I have - reluctantly - accepted the fact that I have to die someday.  But I really don't want to be nominated for a Darwin award.  And dieing NEEDLESSLY when a simple precaution like carrying a PLB could prevent it strikes me as a really stupid way to go.

 

[Vagabond_Keith]

 

Distress signals:  a) 3 distinct blasts on a whistle or from a gun or from a car horn, followed by one minute of silence; repeat.  b) 3 fires in a triangle about 50-75 feet apart (fire at night, smoky fire during the day) or 3 fires in a line if you don’t have room for a triangle; if you’re off a path, try to build 3 piles of rocks in the path with an arrow made of stones pointing to your location. c) Carry a signal mirror and learn how to use it.   d) Carry a decent first aid kit and emergency kit.

If you are lost, STOP MOVING!  STOP MOVING!  STOP MOVING!  If you think you know the way back, don’t try to take a shortcut.  Go back the way you came.  Also carry a roll of bright surveyor's tape with you to mark your way (collect it going back).

I've heard about the 3. Is the SOS signal in sound and flashlight not really used anymore?

Thanks for those other tips!!

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

If you’re not carrying a cell phone . . . 

Distress signals:  a) 3 distinct blasts on a whistle or from a gun . . . 

Also carry a roll of bright surveyor's tape with you to mark your way (collect it going back).

Yes, carry a cell phone but don't rely on it.  Cell phone coverage when hiking is spotty at best.  Vegetation, hills, other obstacles and coverage can leave it unusable.

Shooting a gun in the wild (especially during hunting season) is not the best emergency signal.  Gunfire in the woods is just background noise for a lot of us.  And most people carrying guns do not carry much ammo. At most, I am carrying 5 rounds for my hunting rifle.  It is a standing joke among my hunting buddies: 1 shot = he got his deer, 2 shots = well maybe he got his deer, 3 shots = he missed 

Unfortunately, there are lots of hikers and hunters that don't collect fluorescent tape 'on their way back'.  Carry a map and compass, and know how to use them.  If you must, mark your trail with natural things.  And make a habit of periodically looking back along the way you came so you will recognize it to find your way back.

if I am solo and I die.  what difference does it make?  I mean if I am dead I really won't care.  highdesertranger

That's OK if you don't have an animal that depends on you, or have family or friends that would be emotionally affected if you disappear without a trace (even for a few days).

I've heard about the 3. Is the SOS signal in sound and flashlight not really used anymore?

In most emergency situations, SOS is too cumbersome or takes too many resources (e.g. fires).  If one is using a signal mirror, whistle, horn, etc. it gives a very clear message that you need help.  I'm not sure if the younger generation could interpret it or would know what SOS means.

Unless one is in a very open area after dark a flashlight just isn't noticeable enough.

 -- Spiff

 

[Dgorila1]

Thread says if you die or something so I guess my question would fit here.  When I die I have made arrangements with the local medical school to take my body to do with as they need.  I carry a donor card under my drivers license and have the donor logo on my drivers license.  While traveling from Indiana back to Texas this week I had occasion to use the emergency room at the hospital in Joplin, Mo.  If you need an ER that is a great place to go.  Got me to wondering what would happen if I were to die away from the area served by my medical school I am registered with.  Anyone know the answer?  Guess I'll contact my med school and see.  I'm not allowing anyone to have a funeral for me so it's just a matter of disposing of my body and recycling it or using it for educational purposes.

Most medical schools won't accept a donor over a maximum weight. Check with the one you intend to donate to and find out.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I read a blog post.  This guy's father, who lived alone, died in his sleep and they didn't find the body for several days.  The medical school he had left his body to declined the gift saying they couldn't use it.  I imagine the same would hold for any of us if we died out in the wilds.  I'd guess that sort of thing only works if you die in a hospital.

As far as your body weight goes, if a medical school couldn't use it, perhaps a body farm could.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_farm

 

[Ticklebellly]

I often camp up in remote areas.   My oldest boy has a text document covering the details of passwords and bank stuff, plus my will and a video Living Will.   I also carry a PLB in the Campervan and it goes in the backpack if I take off on a trail or in the kayak.   If I break a leg, the PLB will come out, if I die out there, wont worry me.

I have no superstitious belief in things like life after death so am confident that if and when I die, I wont know I'm dead and will not care.

 

[highdesertranger]

if I had my dog with me I wouldn't be solo. sure I wouldn't want my mom to worry but is it going to bother me when I am dead, I doubt it. highdesertranger

 

[TrainChaser]

SOS is still useful in some situations, esp if some older-timers or ham radio operators are looking for you.  Don't underestimate the Hams that will respond to an emergency.

Dial your cell phone occasionally, even if you can't get through. If authorities are tracking your pings, they will know you're still alive and likely continue the search. Once again, don't go crazy and wear down your battery. (You charged it before you got yourself into this predicament, right?)

SOS is   ...---...   (dit-dit-dit dah-dah-dah dit-dit-dit)  using flashes of light (flashlight, headlights) or a whistle, car horn, one of those personal alarms, or an air horn:  3-short+3-long+3-short, 1-minute pause, then repeat. 

If your signal source requires batteries, don't panic and wear them out in the first 20-30 minutes.  Respond to lights, shouts, movement, vehicles, low planes (not airliners that are crusing six miles high) and helicopters, and noises that could be signals of people looking for you.

If all you can do is beat one rock with another, use 3 quick but distinct taps, then 3 slow taps, then another 3 quick taps (tap-tap-tap   tap..... tap..... tap   tap-tap-tap).

If you can leave a message in a open area, like desert or beach sand, just spell out HELP or SOS (SOS is read the same way upside down as it is rightside up ) by digging trenches to spell the WORDS.

Remember that CONTRAST is your friend.  If you dig trenches in sand or dirt, pile the excavated sand right beside the trench to make shadows formed by the furrows and hills, or ...

Dig the trenches and fill them with brush, or dark rocks on light sand, etc.

Make them fairly large so they can be seen from the air.  (You've all seen those Lost Dog or Yard Sale signs written in 1/2" letters where traffic going 50 mph, right?  Don't do that.)

Pilots can see movement, so wave your arms or t-shirt or jacket.  Yelling at aircraft is only done in movies.

 

[Gypsy Jane]

You don't even have to be out in the bush to need help. Good vandwelling friend of mine had a stroke last year in her van, in a parking lot, which immobilized her, and despite yelling for help wasn't rescued for two days.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

 

[VanKitten]

I agree, when it is time...it is time.

I can see many cases where I do not want to be rescued. I just cannot imagine that being trapped in some convalescing home is going to work for me. My Mom had a stroke and the result left her nearly unable to do anything..including talk. I am certain she was still mentally mostly there, but she was trapped. Even with me to keep her out of the nursing homes...it was a miserable existence. For my Dad, it was even worse....he couldn't walk at all, couldn't handle day to day living at all. I did everything for them...yet, it was no way to live. He often asked why he was still living. Basically, the medical profession kept them going long past the point they wanted. I have seen what old age looks like...I am not going to do it. Not willingly,

But...what about kitten? How might I get her rescued while having those wonderful folk leave me alone?

 

[bullfrog]

I don't think much of our laws dealing with old age and dying after sitting with my 91 year old dad in hospice watching him starve to death comfortably for 9 days this summer. The meds they gave him for pain actually kept him alive longer and he laid there 9 days without food or water leaving me to determine how much pain he was in at the end. Nurse said some people have lasted 30 days. I wish there was a quicker less painful for everyone concerned way our society accepted to deal with death, when it is known that a condition is not survivable. Hope to die quickly in the desert rather than laying in a bed in hospice.

 

[Wabbit]

For body identification, dog tags work. Also, I have my Soc Sec # tattooed on my butt. But I can see where that ID method would not be all that great of a body ID solution for a variety of reasons(cannibals!) Just FYI, that tattoo story isn't true!

Anyways, dog tags for body identification\emergency contacts.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

Having spent time with several family members as they passed away, I can say when it came down to their last few minutes, they didn't have a care in the world. Even my grandmother, who worried about everyone and everything every minute of everyday of her life, could have cared less about any of it at the end.

I believe death is peaceful, it's as natural as being born. Not sure why society as a whole is so scared of dying.


That social security tattoo on the butt doesn't seem like the worst idea!

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

I don't think much of our laws dealing with old age and dying after sitting with my 91 year old dad in hospice watching him starve to death comfortably for 9 days this summer.  The meds they gave him for pain actually kept him alive longer and he laid there 9 days without food or water leaving me to determine how much pain he was in at the end.  Nurse said some people have lasted 30 days.  I wish there was a quicker less painful for everyone concerned way our society accepted to deal with death, when it is known that a condition is not survivable.  Hope to die quickly in the desert rather than laying in a bed in hospice.

My Dad landed in a nursing home at 58, Dr's more or less said he could live in that state (semi unconscious) for months. He was at the end of a two year battle with cancer and not more than a 110 lb skeleton.  I asked if there were any options that wouldn't keep him alive for months and the Dr more or less explained to me a legal way he could dose him up with morphine and let him go to sleep and never wake up.  I took that option and an hour later his struggles were over.  
Very thankful for that Dr at that nursing home, hope is compassionate methods don't land him in hot water some day.  I have a hunch he has a good read on what people to offer those services too.