Steve Jobs' Stealthy Move

[Brandon716]

http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/20/steve-jobs-executive-health-technology-transplant.html

Steve Jobs' Stealthy Move

Brian Caulfield, 06.20.09, 11:15 AM EDT

Apple's chief executive reportedly got a liver transplant in Tennessee. Some Memphis residents think they know where.

Is Apple working on a tablet computer? A flat-screen television? Maybe. But the most tantalizing rumor swirling around Apple these days has also been the most seemingly far-out: that Chief Executive Steve Jobs was getting medical treatment in Tennessee.

Alex Haislip, a reporter at Venture Capital Journal, a venture industry trade publication, was the first to put it on the record. A quiet Memphis neighborhood was buzzing, he reported, after a historic local property was sold to a mysterious owner who had installed security cameras and parked a security guard out front. The local scuttlebutt: The mystery mansion was inhabited by none other than Jobs.

The missing piece? Why would Jobs, who underwent surgery to treat an islet cell neuro-endocrine tumor, a rare form of pancreatic cancer, in 2004, and disclosed in January he was suffering from a "hormone imbalance," seek treatment in Memphis? Jobs lives in Palo Alto, Calif., just a few miles from the Stanford Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco, both world-class cancer treatment centers.

The Wall Street Journal filled in the missing piece of that puzzle late Friday night, reporting that Jobs had a received a liver transplant in Tennessee two months ago. And suddenly, the weirdest Apple ( AAPL - news - people ) rumor of all--that the legendary chief executive had left the glamour of Silicon Valley to sneak into a sleepy Memphis neighborhood--is looking mighty plausible.

Whether or not it's Jobs, whoever lives in the Memphis mansion had gone out of his way to hide his tracks. Allyson Avera, the real estate agent who sold the property, told Forbesearlier this month she doesn't know who lives there "and if I knew, I wouldn't tell you." And it's still unclear where in Tennesee Jobs got his transplant.

The Memphis mansion is also the former residence of the chancellor of the nearby University of Tennessee Health Science Center. The Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute, a top-flight liver transplant center, is just a short drive away.

Avera added that a lot of high-profile people buy homes near St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to get treatment for themselves or their children. She told the same cautionary tale echoed by several of the neighborhood's residents: one privacy-seeking celebrityhad to move after it got out that he had purchased a place in nearby Germantown, Tenn., so his child could get treatment.

Odds are that bit of local lore is about to get replaced by an even more interesting tale. Haislip, the reporter behind the seemingly wild story that Jobs is in Memphis, has posted additional details from residents who've been on the lookout for Jobs for months now.

I used to be an avid Apple fan back in high school, but switched to Windows and never looked back thereafter. Still I like to keep up on Apple news.

This is pretty amazing news for me, sounds like he found a doctor in the US who was willing to be bought off, put him in front of the transplant waiting list, and got unethical treatment ahead of others in donor lines. It is the only logical explanation as to why he'd choose to live in Memphis and not go to other reputable transplant centers. It certainly is unethical, especially considering treating his liver cancer is likely not going to stop his pancreatic cancer. I can only imagine what kind of deal was worked out...

Ironically I used to live in Midtown Memphis while going to UofM, its a really nice neighborhood, and I can only hope this helps him... Not sure how much its worth since he has pancreatic cancer, but its certainly interesting news!

 

[CodeMonkey]

He has be secretive on his health, It could be him. Memphis is far enough place for him to hide if he doesn't want the tech media to find out what really wrong with his health.

 

[Brian69]

On the one hand it's a bit of a cautionary tale--even with so much money on your side you can't prevent genetics, habits or bad luck from catching up to you. On the other hand, money can buy you opportunities to mitigate those bad circumstances that people without the income just can't do. I can't blame Jobs for doing whatever it takes to keep himself alive but people will wonder what exactly he's been up to and think there's a double standard at work. But is anyone really under the illusion that money doesn't talk?

 

[syn]

I used to be an avid Apple fan back in high school, but switched to Windows and never looked back thereafter. Still I like to keep up on Apple news.

This is pretty amazing news for me, sounds like he found a doctor in the US who was willing to be bought off, put him in front of the transplant waiting list, and got unethical treatment ahead of others in donor lines. It is the only logical explanation as to why he'd choose to live in Memphis and not go to other reputable transplant centers. It certainly is unethical, especially considering treating his liver cancer is likely not going to stop his pancreatic cancer. I can only imagine what kind of deal was worked out...

Ironically I used to live in Midtown Memphis while going to UofM, its a really nice neighborhood, and I can only hope this helps him... Not sure how much its worth since he has pancreatic cancer, but its certainly interesting news!

Where did you get the idea he bought off the doctor?

 

[MetroMan]

Where did you get the idea he bought off the doctor?

Brandon's pure speculation of course. There's nothing in the article that even alludes to that.

The media should just leave the man alone. He's sick, he has all the right in the world to his privacy and to save his own life.

That said, his pancreatic cancer was cured and has not returned. There may have been a spread to his liver which is why the WSJ is suggesting he got a liver transplant.

 

[unimaginative2]

It's not that simple. If a cancer spreads from your pancreas to your liver, the pancreatic cancer is not cured.

 

[Brandon716]

My speculation is based on some evidence I've seen, and the fact that wait lists for liver transplants don't correlate with Steve Jobs' procedure. Plus if anyone knows a doctor in Memphis, all they have to do is pay them off to do something illegal. Memphis is filled with docs that do a lot of things like that.

The article does confirm Steve Jobs had a liver transplant though, and it was speculated on for months now.

I'm one of the others who also don't buy the idea that his pancreatic cancer is cured, he's just putting on a strong front so he can not bring Apple down. I'm not sure Apple will be that bad off without him though, there are a lot of innovative people at the company.

 

[unimaginative2]

I'm not sure Apple will be that bad off without him though, there are a lot of innovative people at the company.

Don't count on that. The last time he left, all it took was a couple years for the "professional" managers to run the company into the ditch. That appears to be the biggest problem with American business in general. The country produces many of the most remarkable entrepreneurs in the world who create innovative new technologies and outstanding companies. Then, after they retire or are pushed out, the "professional" management that takes over manages to squash all of the entrepreneurial spirit and either turn the company into a plodding utility or a bankrupt. At least part of it is from their pathological obsession with quarterly results and their belief that a merger is the solution to every problem. An entrepreneur wants to build a business over the long term. There are of course exceptions to this rule, and even a few cases where extraordinary managers have managed to resuscitate a lagging company, but they're far rarer than they should be considering how much these managers are paid.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

poor guy. hopefully he recovers.

 

[MetroMan]

Don't count on that. The last time he left, all it took was a couple years for the "professional" managers to run the company into the ditch. That appears to be the biggest problem with American business in general. The country produces many of the most remarkable entrepreneurs in the world who create innovative new technologies and outstanding companies. Then, after they retire or are pushed out, the "professional" management that takes over manages to squash all of the entrepreneurial spirit and either turn the company into a plodding utility or a bankrupt. At least part of it is from their pathological obsession with quarterly results and their belief that a merger is the solution to every problem. An entrepreneur wants to build a business over the long term. There are of course exceptions to this rule, and even a few cases where extraordinary managers have managed to resuscitate a lagging company, but they're far rarer than they should be considering how much these managers are paid.

Jobs has created a new culture within Apple during his time there (after returning) and many people have grown their careers within Apple by his side and know where to take the company. It's not longer a Steve Jobs culture. It's an Apple Inc culture. Johnny Ives, Tim Cook, Phil Shiller, Scott Forstall, Bertrand Serlet and others have shown Steve Jobs qualities in understanding the culture and how to run the company.

I've seen a Jobs' twinkle in the eye of senior executives that are currently running the company while Steve has been away. I think the company is in good hands and steered in the right direction.

When Steve was forced out of the company, the CEO at the time drove the company into the ground by expanding into areas where they couldn't compete, and growing their number of sku's creating a confusing lineup of products.

The first thing Steve Jobs did when he returned to the company was to get rid of all the excess and focus on a smaller but better product line.

What he did that turned the company around was not just releasing great products, it was having the intuition to turn down good ideas because they weren't at the level he wanted them to be.

The iPhone has been in development for many years and only now released when it met his tough demands for it.

Steve Jobs has been known to stop a product that is days from being announced because it doesn't meet his standard.

Back to his health, to my knowledge, liver transplants are given to patients who's prognosis is to be able to live 5 years or more with a successful procedure. Official comments from his doctors and Apple Inc. point to the fact that he had a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that was treatable and that his prognosis for recovery is very good.

Finally, who's to say that he didn't have a partial live transplant from a living donor from a family member? That type of procedure is becoming increasingly common.

That all said, there's no indication whatsoever that he paid off anybody. That's just blatant guessing, baseless speculation with no foundation whatsoever, bordering on sensationalism.

 

[Brandon716]

Don't count on that. The last time he left, all it took was a couple years for the "professional" managers to run the company into the ditch. That appears to be the biggest problem with American business in general. The country produces many of the most remarkable entrepreneurs in the world who create innovative new technologies and outstanding companies. Then, after they retire or are pushed out, the "professional" management that takes over manages to squash all of the entrepreneurial spirit and either turn the company into a plodding utility or a bankrupt. At least part of it is from their pathological obsession with quarterly results and their belief that a merger is the solution to every problem. An entrepreneur wants to build a business over the long term. There are of course exceptions to this rule, and even a few cases where extraordinary managers have managed to resuscitate a lagging company, but they're far rarer than they should be considering how much these managers are paid.

While I'm not sure that Apple will necessarily revert back to the dead Apple of the mid 90's before it had to be reborn by Steve, I think you're onto something with the culture of business in general. The most successful businesses tend to be people with an idea - not business graduates - who have a passion for what they do.

Steve Jobs was in marketing, not an MBA program or other general business, but his passion was always computers and technology in general. Bill Gates never graduated. You can go down the list again and again that the most successful people tend not to specialize in a degree, they may obtain a degree, but their passion is personal regardless of the situation.

Once the original passionate people are gone, business 'professionals' that earned an MBA come in, apply their textbook skills and run the company right into the ground for the sake of money alone. Some people forget that money is just a means of exchange, its not ideas nor passion.

 

[Brandon716]

Jobs has created a new culture within Apple during his time there (after returning) and many people have grown their careers within Apple by his side and know where to take the company. It's not longer a Steve Jobs culture. It's an Apple Inc culture. Johnny Ives, Tim Cook, Phil Shiller, Scott Forstall, Bertrand Serlet and others have shown Steve Jobs qualities in understanding the culture and how to run the company.

I've seen a Jobs' twinkle in the eye of senior executives that are currently running the company while Steve has been away. I think the company is in good hands and steered in the right direction.

When Steve was forced out of the company, the CEO at the time drove the company into the ground by expanding into areas where they couldn't compete, and growing their number of sku's creating a confusing lineup of products.

The first thing Steve Jobs did when he returned to the company was to get rid of all the excess and focus on a smaller but better product line.

What he did that turned the company around was not just releasing great products, it was having the intuition to turn down good ideas because they weren't at the level he wanted them to be.

The iPhone has been in development for many years and only now released when it met his tough demands for it.

Steve Jobs has been known to stop a product that is days from being announced because it doesn't meet his standard.

Back to his health, to my knowledge, liver transplants are given to patients who's prognosis is to be able to live 5 years or more with a successful procedure. Official comments from his doctors and Apple Inc. point to the fact that he had a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that was treatable and that his prognosis for recovery is very good.

Finally, who's to say that he didn't have a partial live transplant from a living donor from a family member? That type of procedure is becoming increasingly common.

That all said, there's no indication whatsoever that he paid off anybody. That's just blatant guessing, baseless speculation with no foundation whatsoever, bordering on sensationalism.

I wish Steve Jobs very, very well. His personal health is kind of beside the evidence of what happened. If Steve Jobs were to have a partial transplant from a relative, why would he not have used the hospitals in his backdoor? The SF Bay area has some of the best transplant hospitals in America, Memphis has some good institutions known for Tennessee but they are not renowned for anything really.

Why go to an institution in Memphis if you're looking for sheer privacy? You could more easily achieve that by visiting an out-of-country top notch hospital in Asia or one of the American get-away hospitals for some wealthy people down in Mexico that have popped up.

The wait times for liver transplants aren't that low in Memphis, despite what some articles I've seen say.

I have to say my background, growing up in Tennessee and having close people in the medical community there, the evidence to me leads to believe Steve Jobs found a team of doctors at Methodist hospital in Memphis and bought them off, they put him ahead of others, and he got a new liver.

Speculation? Yes. But its speculation I'm pretty confident in. Steve Jobs would have a far harder time trying to buy off a team of transplant specialists at Stanford or elsewhere in the Bay area.

Steve Jobs I think knows he has a limited time to live and he is just finding the best way to stay alive - which I suppose is okay on a personal level - but its unethical if the doctors accepted such a plan. Steve is known for his tenacity, I wouldn't put it beyond him to have bought a liver transplant unethically.

Again, despite how unethical anything may have occurred, I wish him the best.

 

[MetroMan]

According to this article in Fortune:

About 6,000 liver transplant operations are performed in the United States each year at more than 100 hospitals, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network, but the waiting list for donors is considerably shorter in Tennessee than it is in most states

That's a very good reason to have gone to Tennessee and a lot more plausible than your theory.

Brandon, I think that your title for this thread is deceiving and insulting to a man fighting for his life. If you state an accusation as fact such as you do with that title, you should be prepared to back it up with reliable sources and information, none of which are indicated in the article you posted nor on any of your subsequent posts on the topic.

 

[Brandon716]

You would be surprised how many payoffs happen like that, its not uncommon among people with the means to buy it, regardless of average wait times for liver transplant.

BTW, the thread title is the article title. I didn't make it.

Like I said, I wish Jobs' the best.

 

[Brandon716]

I'm not the only person questioning it, its been questioned in the mainstream media.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/21/eveningnews/main5101417.shtml

Jobs' Liver Transplant Raises Questions

Apple CEO Got A Needed Cancer Treatment; But Did He Have An Advantage Over Other Organ Recipients?


The report that Apple CEO Steve Jobs received a liver transplant is triggering a lot of talk in the business world. Russ Mitchell speaks with Dr. Jon Lapook, who helps sort out some issues.

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.

Video report is here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5101606n&tag=related;photovideo