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As answered here and here, halachic death is defined as an irreversible heart [and/or respiration, and/or brain] cessation.

If so, would cryogenically freezing someone while they're still alive1 be permissible, since even though that involves heart etc. stoppage, it is intended to be reversible?

If mere intent is not enough, suppose reviving from freezing actually becomes possible in the future, with some chance X of success. Would that make freezing while alive permissible? Would it depend on how large X is?

1 Freezing someone while they're still alive may be needed when there's a degenerative disease, or some other situation that would make freezing after death too late to have any chance of reviving.

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    If your question is based on the theoretical that science may one day 'cure' death and therefore this act of murder is not actually murder, let's take a look at our religious truth regarding the revival of the dead. Since we believe a given person will be brought back to life, may we now murder him?
    – user6591
    Commented Jul 26, 2021 at 21:40
  • thejc.com/judaism/features/…
    – Gershon Gold
    Commented Jul 26, 2021 at 22:43
  • @user6591 The second part of my question is actually about the case where technology has advanced enough to freeze and then revive. (Note that I didn't say anything about what happens after the revival, or whether science can 'cure death').
    – user9806
    Commented Jul 27, 2021 at 0:01
  • @GershonGold That article talks about freezing after death. This question is about freezing before death.
    – user9806
    Commented Jul 27, 2021 at 0:01
  • Similarly what about shooting someone in the head to collect an internal dna sample which future generations may see as the best kind?
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Jul 27, 2021 at 0:19

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