Valleywag: Steve Jobs undergoing surgery Monday

Valleywag is reporting that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is undergoing surgery at Stanford Hospital on Monday.

The report did not explain what type of surgery Jobs might be having. It cited a secondhand account passed along from a employee at Stanford.

Jobs is currently on medical leave from Apple while he recuperates from health problems that have caused him to lose significant weight over the last year.

Bloomberg reported two weeks ago that Jobs was considering a liver transplant. A Stanford Hospital representative would only say that "due to federal patient privacy laws, we're unable to provide any information on any patient."

Apple declined to comment on what a representative called rumors and speculation.

[Hep Cat]

I sure wish you people would grow up and stop this morbid fascination with the details of the man's health.

[Mark_Anderson]

Exactlt.

Jesus, leave the man alone you bloody vulture.

[Seaspray0]

In Tom's defense... read his BIO. "Tom Krazit, a staff writer for CNET News, focuses on all things Apple." Job's heath matters to the stockholders, which makes it news.

[dadbee]

Leave him alone. The guy is not well and deserves some privacy. The "Stanford employee" is breaking the law by discussing it with anyone.

[Gabey8]

That might be a Stanford EX-employee, if the person who reported the information has broken any part of their code of conduct. I don't know of many employers that would want their name connected with a breach of privacy laws.

[Hep Cat]

As someone wrote on Valleywag, the Stanford employee is violating several Federal and State laws by divulging this information. If I were the SEC, I'd depose Valleywag.

[Perry_Clease]

I wish him well.

This morning I visited a friend who is under hospice care and is not expected to last much longer.

[Gabey8]

@ Perry_Clease: Sorry to hear that -- thoughts & prayers for your friend and your friend's loved ones.

As for Mr. Jobs: I hate to see his private life pried into like this, with hearsay being circulated as headline news. Due to HIPAA laws in the USA, no doctor or hospital can release information about a patient without the patient's consent, so we won't be seeing any firsthand confirmation unless Mr. Jobs wants information known. This is apparently not preventing non-medical persons in Mr. Jobs's acquaintance from trying to dole out personal information about him, and that's just wrong.

But I'll say that if he is undergoing any medical procedure, I hope it's a complete success and I wish him a speedy return to full health.

[MaggieRed]

God speed and best wishes on a speedy recovery.

CBS/CNET sure has a sick fascination with this man's health. God help you if something happen to one of your family members and the extreme liberal press harassed you and your loved one. I find it very interesting how the libs will literally eat their own. What a sick bunch of people.

[ecotopian--2008]

But it's Ok when you use the occasion of this man's illness to get on your worn out political soap box and promote your fossil religion? You are nothing but a Holy Hypocrite.

[Hep Cat]

See, Tom, this is what we call "backlash". And it mars your otherwise notable reporting when people are so disgusted with the topic that they're criticizing you personally. It'd be nice to see C|Net/CBS take a stand and renounce tabloid journalism.

[CDubber]

"Can we film the operation?
Is the head dead yet?
You know, the boys in the newsroom got a
Running bet
Get the widow on the set!
We need dirty laundry"

- Don Henley

[lordeagle]

I think that people reporting this kind of information (such as Tom Krazit, author of this entry) are as responsible for the breach as the Standard employee.

Leave the man alone! Stop being obsessed with his well-being (or more likely, his "bad"-being). Get a life of your own!

[AppleSuxLeo]

Could it be a Pre-induced ulcer ?

[scott2400]

Hey Leo - you're superior at Palm is looking for you.. says you spend too much time on cnet...

Watch as the Pre gets knocked out of the water by legal action - too bad they couldn't come up with something original.

[cjb65]

I agree with Gabey8. Why would anyone, including CNET, post any information that is clearly a violation of federal privacy laws.?! Let's hope that the Stanford administration takes the appropriate action to discipline the employee who broke HIPPA. I only wish that those who report from such behavior could be cited as well.

Shame on you CNET for supporting this behavior and reporting what is clearly one man's right to privacy!

Let's not forget that at this point, Mr. Jobs is a patient and is entitled to all the rights to privacy that entails. Mr. Jobs and his family should not have to worry about confidentiality at a time when his health is most vulnerable. I wish he and his family well. I wonder what would happen if everyone with fascination over his health were to channel some good energy his way?

[Magicland]

The man has no right to privacy, you fools! As the CEO of a large publicly-held corporation, any issues seriously affecting his health, and therefore potentially affecting the stock values and leadership of said corporation are legally required to be made public. Why do you think the SEC is investigating him AGAIN? Because of his little show earlier this month where he assured everyone he was healthy, and then a few days later decided he needed to take a few months off because he wasn't healthy. Lying to the stockholders, if he did, is as much an illegal stock manipulation as those he's already been found guilty of.

[Hep Cat]

Wow, crazy must be on sale today, because you seem to have stocked up on everything from half-truths to outright lies.

[Everlovin G]

@Tom Krazit

"The report did not explain what type of surgery Jobs might be having. It cited a secondhand account passed along from a employee at Stanford."

So, now you're in the business of promulgating hearsay as news. Your editor(s) must be a) so proud, or b) in a coma.

How do I report your article as a "Disruptive Posting?"

~an unapologetic Apple® enthusiast

[Hep Cat]

The sad thing is that C|Net used to double-source stories (like journalists are supposed to) before the CBS takeover. Now they just reprint rumors at the slightest provocation from a blog (Valleywag) that has been reduced to little more than a tag category on Gawker.

The People magazine of tech sites. No longer respectable?

[commsoft]

Actually you guys, many of you are assuming that the law was violated when there may have been no violation at all. What makes you think that the person who passed this info on was an employee of an organization bound by HIPAA?

Let's say, for example, that a janitor at the Stanford School of Business was in the hospital the same day for treatment of her own, and saw Jobs being wheeled into the operating room. (In other words, her exposure to this info was not job-related.) I don't know the relationship between various Stanford-related business entities, but I would not assume that everyone who describes themselves as an employee of "Stanford" is bound by HIPAA like hospital health care workers are.

Of course, it probably sucks for him that people won't leave Steve alone in what is no doubt a difficult time, but as Magicland observes, he is a public figure, by choice, and his health has economic implications for thousands of people, so the fact that it makes news is hardly surprising.

[Hep Cat]

...adding that if a meteor hit Stanford medical, none of this would matter. And your protestations about whether the guy was a Stanford employee vs. HIPAA notwithstanding, it's still in poor taste and probably illegal at the source to repeat a single-sourced rumor from Valleywag about someone's private medical treatment.

[commsoft]

Whoa Hep Cat, no need for all the hostility here - what I was saying could hardly be characterized as a "protestation." The point is that people (like you apparently) are leaping to the conclusion that illegal acts have occurred with basically no information, either fact or law, to support that conclusion. Poor taste, perhaps, illegal, you have no idea.

[jabelar]

I am amazed at how many news stories now cite informants "who cannot be named because they are not authorized to talk to media". Some of these are from government, pentagon, major corporations. Seriously, those type of informants should be rooted out and fired and even charged. I understand the value of true whistle-blowing (like if Stanford medical was illegally disposing of body parts), but not just general gossip.

On the other hand, it may turn out that Apple's Board is on thin legal ice in terms of disclosing what they know about Jobs' health. His health is relevant to the investors of Apple, and perhaps the broader tech industry -- the fortune of $B in investment will be affected by this, and investors have a right to know when their investment is at risk.

So yeah, the hospital staff should keep the secret, but the Apple board should spill the beans.

[Earl Benzar]

> Apple's Board is on thin legal ice in terms of disclosing what they know about Jobs' health

Oh really? Why is Jobs an exception? I don't recall ever hearing about the health status of any other fortune 500 CEO. The boards responsibility is to ensure that the company is operating properly, which given the health of Apple's earnings this past quarter, seems to be in good shape.

[TheSmellyMoa]

CNET isn't a news organization. It's a scam bankrolled by Paul Allen so there would be one news outlet on the Web that would not dump on MSFT 24/7. Any guy who'd recommend options backdating for company employees is capable of pretty much anything. SEC is always looking for deterrence cases and Apple is a heck of a high profile target to allow itself to be placed in compromising positions in this regard.

[Earl Benzar]

> It's a scam bankrolled by Paul Allen

Really? You might want to inform CBS of this development. I'm sure it's big news.


> SEC is always looking for deterrence cases and Apple is a heck of a high profile target to allow
> itself to be placed in compromising positions in this regard.

Huh?

[biggstuu]

Krazit,
I've always found you weak and lacking as a journalist, but the Jobs deathwatch stories from and that dingleberry of a human Charles Cooper, quite frankly, you should both recuse yourselves from your chosen profession.

[Rip_Ragged]

Wow. Tom. Did you read this thing after you sobered up? That's just really stupid.

I'd write more here, but I have a blog to maintain.

[joetesta70]

Maybe $teve Job$ will have a heart put in and then he can part with his billions instead of hoarding them to really change the world...

...until then I hope he gets thinner and thinner....

[artistjoh]

I have to join those who are shocked and appalled that an article of this invasive nature is published at all, although I am even more appalled by the posters like joetester70 who actually heartlessly wish ill of a sick man. It is the encouragement to spout such disgusting and thoughtless opinion that makes an article like this so very wrong to publish as well as the obvious issues of privacy.

[unknown unknown]

Only thing worse than the people prying into Steve's life are people commenting on it.

"Wow. Tom. Did you read this thing after you sobered up? That's just really stupid."

"Krazit,
I've always found you weak and lacking as a journalist, but the Jobs deathwatch stories from and that dingleberry of a human Charles Cooper, quite frankly, you should both recuse yourselves from your chosen profession."

Yeah, way to take the moral high ground, lobbing personal attacks.

[unknown unknown]

One more comment, Steve's a celebrity and right or wrong this what happens to celebrities. The public loves their celebrity gossip.

[c_peptide]

How disturbing is this excerpt: "A Stanford Hospital representative would only say that "due to federal patient privacy laws, we're unable to provide any information on any patient.""?

Does that mean they would happily violate medical ethics to satisfy the curious Mac user if not for a federal law?

An ethical Stanford Hospital representative would say, "Due to medical ethics, I would not violate patient confidentiality even if a federal law told me to."

Of course, an ethical journalist would not ask him to.

Let's hope Jobs gets the care he needs to beat his illness, if indeed it can be beaten.

[e-mail]

[aaydogan]

Wishing him the best possible outcome with the least amount of suffering.....