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Man Who Attempted DIY Gene Therapy Found Dead

posted by chromas on Thursday May 03 2018, @03:45AM   Printer-friendly
from the biohacked dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Aaron Traywick, a biohacker who once injected himself with an untested herpes therapy on a crusade to expand access to medications, was found dead on Sunday morning in Washington, DC, police confirmed to BuzzFeed News.

Traywick, 28, was found in a spa in Northwest DC, according to police. Staff discovered him in a sensory deprivation flotation tank, according to his colleague Tristan Roberts.

His body was taken for an autopsy, and his cause of death was not immediately known. Their investigation is still ongoing, but the police say they don't suspect foul play.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/stephaniemlee/aaron-traywick-biohacker-died

Also at Newsweek and the BBC.

Previously: "Biohacker" Injects DIY Herpes Vaccine in Front of Audience and Facebook Live (Aaron Traywick)
Biohacker Regrets Injecting Himself With Gene Therapy in Front of a Live Audience (Josiah Zayner reacting to Aaron Traywick)

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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday May 03 2018, @07:30AM (4 children)

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Thursday May 03 2018, @07:30AM (#674975) Journal

    The implication was not that 'he resisted' using drugs for 10 years

    I didn't offer "resisting" as a reason for the 10 year gap. I implied that the idea to take LSD in the tank didn't occur to him or he couldn't get a hold of LSD until '64. Orders of magnitude more people were interacting with the drug by the end of those 10 years.

    That was also the least relevant point.

    There is no fallacy in the thread. I wouldn't need to mention drugs if he hadn't DIED in the tank. The association I've made is not simply between drugs and the tank, but drugs and dying in the tank. Of which there are known cases. And as it turns out, drug paraphernalia was reportedly found in his belongings at the spa where he died:

    https://www.washingtonian.com/2018/05/02/aaron-traywick-dc-spa-says-police-found-drug-paraphernalia/ [washingtonian.com]

    DC police found drug paraphernalia among Aaron Traywick‘s belongings, a spokesperson for the spa in which the controversial CEO died tells Washingtonian. Heather Shaw Menis says the detective who investigated his death told her twice about the paraphernalia. In an email, a spokesperson for the DC police tells Washingtonian the department is unable to confirm that detail.

    [...] Shaw Menis says a detective told her police expect toxicology reports in six to ten weeks.

    Deaths in flotation tanks are rare, but published reports have linked them to drug use in the past. In 2008, a 30-year-old UK man died in a tank after taking the horse tranquilizer ketamine and drowning. A 2010 article from the Journal of Forensic Science states that a 50-year-old woman died after mixing over-the-counter sedating drugs, prescription drugs, and alcohol, leading to “probable environmental hypothermia.”

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  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday May 03 2018, @04:36PM (2 children)

    by bob_super (1357) on Thursday May 03 2018, @04:36PM (#675137)

    Ok, we get it. You believe that he died from doing drugs in his isolation tank. You have good reasons to believe that. We . get . it .

    • (Score: 1, Flamebait) by takyon on Thursday May 03 2018, @04:55PM (1 child)

      by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Thursday May 03 2018, @04:55PM (#675144) Journal

      I wouldn't need to explain it over and over if there wasn't so much complete ignorance displayed by other users in the thread. And I blame out-of-touch greybeards.

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      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:10PM

        by bob_super (1357) on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:10PM (#675152)

        Having made your point quite convincingly, I'd like to invite you not to dwell on those who have their own reasons to doubt your hypothesis.

        You might be right,
        but don't sound obsessive,
        for this is just schadenfreude news,
        and the internet doesn't actually give a flying fuck.

  • (Score: 2) by jimtheowl on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:04PM

    by jimtheowl (5929) on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:04PM (#675150)
    "The association I've made is not simply between drugs and the tank, but drugs and dying in the tank"

    You make a fair point there, but keep in mind that the cited known cases are 1) injection with a horse tranquilizer and 2) sedating drugs + ... + alcohol.

    I'm going to at least suggest that things likely went down differently in this case.