News isn’t generally a guessing game, but The Wall Street Journal’s unattributed weekend story of Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ “secret liver transplant” birthed a frenzy of media speculation about where he got it, how he got it, and why it was needed when the only confirmed disclosure about his health – it came from Jobs himself in 2004 – was that he had a rare form of pancreatic cancer.
The educated guessers seem to agree that whoever leaked the story to the Journal could hardly have timed it better for Apple. Although the surgery reportedly happened about two months ago, the leaked story appeared Saturday, when the markets are closed, and the day after the company released the latest version of the iPhone.
On Monday, Apple announced sales of more than a million units in its first three days and by this morning, Apple stock hit $135 a share in premarket trading, up more than 70 percent since late January.
Could Apple or Jobs himself have timed both the new iPhone’s debut and the leak for the company’s benefit? As of this writing, who knows? Did a renegade Apple board member leak the story to give some down-low sop to shareholders who’ve grumbled about the sketchy reports on Jobs’ health status? Could be; not sure.
CNBC claimed Saturday that it had confirmed Jobs’ had the surgery and his plane flew from San Jose to Memphis in late March – according to unnamed sources. On Monday, CNBC’s Jim Goldman reported that Jobs’ was back at the job in Apple’s Cupertino, California headquarters, at least for the day, “according to employees who have seen him on campus,” while Apple itself stuck with its oft-repeated statement that the boss was looking forward to returning at the end of June.
Why a liver transplant for a pancreatic cancer patient? The Journal quoted a medical expert who said Jobs’ rare tumor type most often spreads to other organs, usually the liver. Factual, but – as far as anyone could then report with certainly – unrelated to Jobs’ case.
Why was it done in Tennessee, and in which of its three designated transplant centers? Deductive reasoning by some reporters initially pointed to only one of the hospitals, Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in Memphis, but who was to say for sure? National organ transplant experts were quoted saying that the wait for an available donor liver is far shorter in Tennessee than in Jobs’ home state of California.
And with his enormous wealth, Jobs could afford to travel around, pay for the necessary evaluations and tests in several states, and maximize his chances for a transplant. It’s called “multiple listing,” and regarded as unethical by some because as a practical matter it’s available only to the rich. Did Jobs do it? Could happen; don’t know for sure.
On Tuesday, the first authoritative confirmation of the transplant came when James D. Eason, M.D., transplant chief and program director at Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute, “confirmed today, with the patient’s permission, that Steve Jobs received a liver transplant” at the institute “in partnership with the University of Tennessee in Memphis.” The brief press release went on to say that the whole process had been done by the book, “Mr. Jobs is now recovering well and has an excellent prognosis,” and because of privacy concerns, the institute “cannot reveal any further information on the specifics of Mr. Jobs’ case.” It did not say when the surgery was done.
One interesting piece of sympathetic analysis in Forbes proposed – with a misplaced chuckle – that Jobs could start an “iLiver initiative” for desperate liver transplant candidates who don’t have the Apple CEO’s wherewithal to shop around. Implicit in the suggestion was a good public relations ploy to get Jobs off whatever ethical hook he may or may not find himself on.
But that’s just speculation.
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1 Comments
#1. Jeremy 06.24.2009
Apple has an excellent product line: I’ve bought three of their iPods, and I’m a Windows/Ubuntu user who is considering a Mac workstation (cost is the only prohibitive aspect of the decision at the moment). Anyone who desires an attractive and functional user experience can agree that Apple has really nailed it. However, let one thing be abundantly clear: If Apple’s stock value and future well being is tied to the health of Steve Jobs, then they have made a major mistake in making him such a forward facing and integral aspect of the company’s image.
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