Hospital confirms Steve Jobs' liver transplant
Apple CEO Steve Jobs briefly addressed his state of health onstage at an Apple event last October.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET News)A Memphis, Tenn., hospital confirmed Tuesday that Apple CEO Steve Jobs received a liver transplant there two months ago and said he is "recovering well and has an excellent prognosis."
Jobs, who returned to work at Apple's campus on Monday after a six-month medical leave, "received a liver transplant because he was the patient with the highest MELD score (model for end-stage liver disease) of his blood type and, therefore, the sickest patient on the waiting list at the time a donor organ became available," according to a statement by Dr. James D. Eason, the program director of the Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in Memphis.
"The waiting list for liver transplants was smaller than in other states, such as California," Eason said.
While Eason said the confirmation was being provided with Jobs' approval, he cited patient confidentiality in saying that he could not reveal any further information on the specifics of Jobs' surgery.
Apple representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
News of the transplant broke Friday night when The Wall Street Journal reported, in a story that cited no sources, that Jobs had received a transplant in Tennessee about two months ago. Earlier this year, Apple's CEO was reported to be relocating from California to Tennessee.
In January, after Jobs announced that he would step aside from his day-to-day duties for a six-month medical leave of absence, Bloomberg reported that Apple's CEO was considering a liver transplant.
Jobs, 54, has been the subject of heated speculation regarding his health since last June's Worldwide Developers Conference, when he appeared to have lost a great deal of weight. At the time, Apple insisted that Jobs' health was a private matter, but in early January revealed that Jobs was suffering from a hormone imbalance that was impeding his body's ability to absorb certain proteins.
In August 2004, Jobs underwent successful surgery to treat a rare form of pancreatic cancer, which sidelined him until September of that year. Much of the speculation over the past year had been over whether that cancer had returned.
Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute said it performed 120 liver transplants in 2008, making it one of the 10 largest liver transplant centers in the country.
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. Before joining CNET News in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers. E-mail Steven. 
It's called waiting list for lack of a better name, but its more or a priority list. It does kinda suck but at the moment the organ becomes available the person in the most critical condition (assuming a transplant will have a benefitial prognosis) gets the transplant
"While Eason said the confirmation was being provided with Jobs' approval, he cited patient confidentiality in saying that he could not reveal any further information on the specifics of Jobs' surgery."
Jobs is not the god of apple. I don't care if he lives or dies because this one person is not important enough to impact the price. Sure if something happens to him the human element will impact the price for a short time, but the bottom line to stock price is that you want to make sure the company has good S&P rating, credit line, etc... not the wellbeing of their CEO.
If something were to happen to him and price of Apple would plummit, thats the perfect time to buy because it will always go back up, in a year or two. Look at Bank of America, if you would have bought their stock 6 montrhs ago and sold it right now you would have made a tonn of money.
"Jobs is not the god of apple."
Fans and investors alike would tend to disagree. It's that level of idology and devotion that borders on religion that makes this important for those to know.
He is the 'face' of Apple. When he is seen as sick or diseased, then Apple's public face is also seen to share that image even if it isn't deserved.
Well, he's still a goner. I'd give him about a dozen years on the anti-immune system drugs he has to take to keep that liver. Then some infection is going to get to him. And don't expect the old Steve, he is going to be feeling miserable for every remaining day of his life.
People won't give jobs his privacy because Apple has never worked well without him around. People like Warren Buffet, a comparably non-disposable CEO, generally disclose more about his health than Steve Jobs. Of course, Steve Jobs, in a fit of anger, disclosed all to a NYT reporter in clear violation of regulation FD. I should get to know what Joe knows! If the SEC continues to let that go, they are telegraphing that FD won't be enforced-- good job SEC, way to help investors.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ax_6mEPxzi3I
If you even bothered, for one damn second, to do any reading you'd be ashamed ... oh no, wait ... that's if you had any real morality, and decent conscious, rather than an incredibly heavy amount of crap.
Liver transplants can use live donors.
So what was your point again?
And as far as your diagnosis of Steve's future, you don't know what you are talking about. While short-term survival is far from assured, it's not unusual at all to survive several decades with a liver transplant. And if he does that, he's unlikely to be miserable and equally unlikely to die from some infection, since the doses of iimmunosuppressive drugs he has to take will be very small after the first two years. His biggest risk factor is his initial disease.
Note that it's a generally a good idea - although one not practiced often on the internet - to have some idea of what you are talking about before speaking.
What's the point of having power and wealth if you don't use it?
See, there is a reason why republicans don't want government run health care. If everyone gets the same treatment, what is the use of being wealthy and powerful?
1 - how does a palo alto resident bump equally worthy patients in TN? and
2 - how does Steve Jobs PR time rationalize the countless reports that his health is not so bad (lying to shareholders) with a sudden dramatic issue like a requirement for a new liver?
I have no clue if Apple stonewalled investors regarding his health but from what I know of cancer, it is more likely that his doctor did not detect the cancer until a short while before he took the leave. If you give people the benefit of a doubt, the whole episode sounded like he was given a clean bill of health and then some tests came back positive and he had to act to save his life.
I am surprised at the attitude here. SOme of you are amazingly crass and heartless. So is WSJ actually, no class at all. The concern is not for a person's life but for your pocket. Amazing and a sad testament to where our country is heading....
Obviously, the liver would have gone to someone else if not Jobs, but there's no reason to assume it was someone from tN and the liver might very well have ended up at a different hospital.
The answer to #2 is that I think its clear that Jobs did not think he needed a transplant when the first health announcement was made in January. When he announced a week later that he was taking 6 months off, then he probably knew that a transplant was at least a real possibility.
So, what, exactly, was your point again? Other than the fact your bitter with envy, I mean.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ax_6mEPxzi3I
You will be surprised by what liver transplant is all about.
1. Be well Steve and have a speedy recovery. (Fewest posts overall)
2. Apple and Steve are a bunch of secretive cronies who need to disclose every bit of his health status because it matter to me on whether or not I buy or sell Apple stock.
3. In spite of what the hospital sated, a rich dude used his private jet and gets the Larry Hagman treatment while a poor working class dude probably died getting bumped. I hope he dies rather than lives as long as possible so he can't see his kids grow up.
Kind of tells you the kind of people we are. Right?
In reality, we're all internet tough guys who probably would poop our pants working for a CEO like Jobs who demands excellence from his employees to put out great products.
Man, people need to learn to find fulfillment in their own lives and not be seeking it vicariously through others'.
Isn't that what it means to be a public figure?
Answer the questions, Apple.
That's all they need to do. Be open and honest, let the public know what was going on and they will get more sympathy for Mr. Jobs and his condition. By the repeated attempts to cover it up, distract people, and to dismiss it entirely make people think there is something more going on than we see. In the lack of information, misinformation spreads.
Open up, tell us the facts, and then it becomes a non-story.
- by xcopy June 24, 2009 10:45 AM PDT
- money and power means you can "cut the line"... Same as it ever was....
- Like this Reply to this comment
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (58 Comments)I've heard many asking "I wonder who died so Jobs could get the liver"? I find myself in that camp too... I'd like to hear from the family of the victim....