Jobs' surgeon speaks

Apple CEO Steve Jobs did not bypass waiting lists in traveling to Memphis for his liver transplant, says the surgeon who treated him. James Eason, the head of transplantation at Methodist University Hospital and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, is now speaking publicly on the matter for the first time. "It's not gaming the system," he says. "It's people choosing where they want their health care. Some people would leave Tennessee to go to California or somewhere else to seek treatment. Now we have people coming from California to Tennessee."

A specialty of Eason is in replacing the livers of people who have an unusual form of cancer, known as a neuroendocrine tumor. Jobs was diagnosed and treated for such a tumor five years ago, but the executive has said little about the recent condition that prompted surgery other than to call it a "hormonal imbalance," requiring a six-month leave of absence which ended in June. By conducting a liver transplant, however, it may be possible to cut off the spread of a neuroendocrine tumor, which could theoretically have recurred in Jobs.

Eason says he will only perform transplants on patients with neuroendocrine tumors when he thinks he can eliminate the spread. He is noted to have a 91 percent success rate within the space of year -- greater than an 87 percent national average -- and a typical 70 percent success rate after five years. The doctor's reputation may be why Jobs traveled out to Memphis, says A. Benedict Cosimi, a Harvard surgery professor and former trainer of Eason.

Regarding Jobs' case, Eason has refused to comment in detail, citing privacy laws and medical ethics. Jobs is a "special person," Eason comments, "really a genuinely nice person." The Securities and Exchange Commission is nevertheless investigating concerns that he and Apple did not properly disclose health concerns material to investors.

by MacNN Staff