Steve Jobs’s Surgeon Talks Tumors, Transplants And Gaming the System
5:42 pm, August 21st, 2009, Leander Kahney
In his first interview since performing Steve Jobs’s liver transplant earlier this year, surgeon James Eason spreads some interesting light on the case.
Namely, he denies Jobs gamed the transplant system; Tennessee has lots of livers for transplantation; the surgeon is the leading experts in recurrences of Jobs’s rare cancer; he treats far more poor blacks than billionaires; Jobs has a pretty good survival prognosis; and the CEO is a “genuinely nice person.”
* Trained at Harvard, Eason is THE leading expert in treating recurrences in the rare type of cancer Jobs had. This is why Jobs went to Tennessee to get a transplant. Jobs always seeks out the best in the field.
* Jobs did not cheat the system to get a transplant. “It’s not gaming the system,” Eason says. “It’s people choosing where they want their health care.”
* Jobs’s prognosis looks good. Eason only performs a liver transplant if he’s certain he can eliminate all the spreading cancer. About 70 percent of patients have healthy organs five years after surgery.
* Memphis has more livers than patients. Or did, until Eason ramped it up. His Memphis hospital performed 35 transplants in 2005 (before he arrived). In 2008, he jacked it to 120 transplants, and 90 so far this year.
* Jobs is “really a genuinely nice person” and “a special person,” says the surgeon. Perhaps he also performed a personality transplant? Or more likely, Jobs made sure not to piss off the man who held his life in his hands.
Link to the Bloomberg interview.
Posted by Leander Kahney in News, Steve Jobs | Comment on this article
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Transplant schmansplant ….
He’s deqd within the year.
And this is VERY unfortuneate.
CaryMG, on August 21st, 2009 at 7:08 pm
What kind of talk its that? I hope Steve Jobs lives a long healthy life and continues make Apple the best company ever. How can you say he’s going to die are you GOD? Statements like that prove how stupid people can be. Viva la Steve Jobs!
BetaCloud777, on August 22nd, 2009 at 12:11 am
the guy has the money to get the best care, went to THE leading surgeon, was deemed the most critical case for his blood type and had a transplant within weeks of being put on the list etc.
just wait, he’ll live another 20 years easy and in six months you’ll be dead from being creamed by a public transit bus while jaywalking.
Lucas, on August 22nd, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Prognostications from people who don’t correct typos and who can’t spell don’t pull much weight with me, for some reason. IOW, I think I’ll go with the Harvard educated surgeon, and not the obvious moron, when making my stock and device purchasing decisions.
But hey, that’s just me.
Hucbald, on August 22nd, 2009 at 8:21 pm
I know Steve Jobs’ health outlook weighed heavily on my mind before I bought my iphone. You people crack me up.
Matt, on August 23rd, 2009 at 9:45 pm