Steve Jobs Liver Transplant Confirmed by Tennessee Transplant Center

I haven't been as sick as Steve Jobs was, but the dearth of stories from this site have been because a) I threw out my back, b) I also got the flu. I am barely functional now. At any rate, back to Steve Jobs.

The Wall Street Journal reported last weekend that Apple CEO Steve Jobs had a liver transplant, and that has now been confirmed by the Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in a short press release.

James D. Eason, M.D., program director at 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.

As indicated in the first paragraph, Jobs granted them permission to release the information. Some of this comes over speculation that, as liver transplants are hard to come by, could Steve Jobs "cut in line."

In reality, it's difficult if not imposible for anyone to "cut in line," but unlike most people, Jobs has the financial wherewithal to fly around the country and get into multiple lines, so to speak, at multiple "organ procurement organizations" (OPOs) . That's simply not possible for most people. It's hard enough for most people to afford the transplant in the first place.

In the Tennessee OPO where Jobs received his transplant, the median wait for a liver between 2002 and 2007 was just over four months. The national average was just over a year, and in some OPOs it was more than three years.

So, did Steve Jobs use his money to get "cuts?" Not really. Did his money help him? Certainly.

At any rate, it's also been reported that Steve Jobs is back at work, so all seems well, at least for now for Apple, Apple stock, and Steve Jobs.