Steve Jobs Has “Excellent Prognosis”
by John Paczkowski
Posted on June 24, 2009 at 3:30 AM PT
Apple CEO Steve Jobs recently underwent a liver transplant and “has an excellent prognosis,” a Memphis, Tenn., hospital has confirmed.
In a statement issued late Tuesday, Dr. James D. Eason, the chief of transplantation at Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in Memphis, said that Jobs did in fact receive a new liver at his transplant facility and is now recovering well. He also dismisses speculation that the Apple CEO’s wealth and celebrity may have afforded him early access to the organ, noting that Jobs qualified for the donor liver when he did because he was the sickest patient of his blood type at the time it became available. Below, the statement in full:
James D. Eason, M.D., program director at Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute and chief of transplantation confirmed today, with the patient’s permission, that Steve Jobs received a liver transplant at Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in partnership with the University of Tennessee in Memphis.
Mr. Jobs underwent a complete transplant evaluation and was listed for transplantation for an approved indication in accordance with the Transplant Institute policies and United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) policies.
He 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. Mr. Jobs is now recovering well and has an excellent prognosis.
The Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute performed 120 liver transplants in 2008 making it one of the ten largest liver transplant centers in the United States. We provide transplants to patients regardless of race, sex, age, financial status, or place of residence. Our one year patient and graft survival rates are among the best in the nation and were a dominant reason in Mr. Jobs’s choice of transplant centers. We respect and protect every patient’s private health information and cannot reveal any further information on the specifics of Mr. Jobs’s case.
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