Jobs' Liver Transplant Raises Questions

(CBS)  The report this weekend that Apple CEO Steve Jobs received a liver transplant is triggering a lot of talk in the business world.

And it is triggering questions as well about fairness. Jobs certainly had the financial resources to travel and pay out of pocket for his medical care. He reportedly received his transplant in Tennessee, which has a median waiting period of just 48 days, compared to a national median wait of 306 days, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.

CBS News Medical Correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook spoke with CBS Evening News Sunday anchor Russ Mitchell.

Mitchell: We don't know the details of Steve Jobs' liver transplant. But in general, why would somebody need one?

LaPook: The liver is crucial - it cleans the blood and makes vital nutrients. There are two many reasons for transplantation: Liver failure because of damage from hepatitis or alcohol are the most common. But in recent years we're seeing some success with transplantation to treat cancer that's started in the liver or - less commonly - that's spread to the liver.

Mitchell: So what type of cancer are we talking about.

LaPook: I want to emphasize that the most common types of cancer than have spread to liver - such as colon cancer - are not usually treated by transplantation. But the kind that Mr. Jobs reportedly has is a very rare, relatively slow-growing tumor. And there has been some success treating this with transplantation, especially in Europe.

Mitchell: Mr. Jobs went to Tennessee to get his liver, perhaps for privacy, perhaps because there was a shorter waiting list there. Is there disparity to access?

LaPook: There is disparity, but it's better than it used to be. There's now a system where - in regions of the country - the sickest patients get transplanted first and you can't jump ahead of somebody on line. But if you have the resources to travel to another part of the country where livers are more available - such as in Tennessee - then you may have an advantage.

[Chris_Butler]

OS11

The World Wide Web was invented by a person (Tim Berners-Lee) at CERN not by a machine (NextCube).

The man's idea lives on, where is the NextCube. Dead and buried.

See my point. Steve Jobs is still unemployable.

[cdevaney]

As far as I can see, the only advantages Steve Jobs' wealth provided in this case are: 1)he could afford to travel to another state where the list and waiting times were shorter; 2) he didn't have to rely on whether his health ins would pay for a liver transplant at another "non-contracted" center; 3) he could afford to stay locally for an extended period of time for follow-up care.

This has nothing to do with worth or worthiness. I think it's a matter of "work smarter, not harder". It stands to reason that if you go to a transplant center that has a waiting time shorter than the national average and fewer local patients competing for donated organs, you will be transplanted faster.

If more people would sign-up and consent to be organ donors, we wouldn't need to be turning this into an exercise of classist, societal mudslinging. What a treat that would be!

[lizannrand]

Why should anyone be upset with Mr. Jobs? It is unfair that he was able to receive a transplant sooner rather than later like most people do, and probably because he has more money than the average person. The question we have to ask, is it his fault or the agency, healthcare, whomever etc on the decision making end's fault? Everything in life goes to the highest bidder. I don't mean to sound non feeling but it's true. So let's face it, if a "regular" person on a waiting list will generate $75000 (as an example) in revenue for the medical industry after all that is said and done, and Mr. Jobs generates $275000 (as an example), he'll be ushered to the front of the line. Unfair? Yes. His fault he has the means? No. He earned his money in one way or the other. Fault of the "system", persons, healthcare, manager of the list? YES. The saying Money talks and you know what walks is true. If it were Steve Jobs and Bill Gates in the same position, I would assume it would be Bill Gates who got the liver. People in all types of professions, and people in decision making positions all in it for the buck, not the ethnics. It shouldn't matter who can pay the most, it should matter who needs it the most.

[anngw]

Mr Jobs' transplant is a bonus to us all. He has the resources to help develop the most promising treatments and the stature to focus the world's attention. Because of his illness, we will have more effective, more available and less expensive treatments. When I need medical treatment,he will have helped me have access to better care.

[rhs648]

Wealth has everything to do with how well we live. Look around. Those with money can afford better homes, food, automobiles, clothing, and vacations. Why should it be any different when it comes to health care. Money means better doctors, hospitals, and medications. Do you belive thar Senator Kennedy, with his wealth, gets the same health care that the rest of us enjoy. Only a fool would think so.

[cs4466]

When it comes to health, wealth should have ZERO influence. Just because person X has more money than person Y should NOT mean that person X gets a liver transplant faster than person Y. It's that simple.

Once that is an established fact, you'll find out how many more people are going to be donors. They don't want to take the chance that they'll be behind drug abuser X and have to wait. Humans are amazingly selfish creatures - you have to take that into account when making the rules.

[cs4466]

When it comes to health, wealth should have ZERO influence. Just because person X has more money than person Y should NOT mean that person X gets a liver transplant faster than person Y. It's that simple.

[omnibus66]

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal"

But once you become rich, you are more equal than the poor.

[zonkzilla]

Who would even ask the question if the wealthy get special treatment?
Everyone knows the answer to that question it is as old as mankind.

[babooph]

With the years of tax cuts for the rich,it was likely "free" in a way-also very nice that with Asia doing so well,the decline of the x US middle class meant he did not have to arrange a liver from China-the local troglites are a great source of organs for the rich.