Following a Wall Street Journal report that Apple CEO Steve Jobs received a liver transplant roughly two months ago, and subsequent speculation as to Jobs’ health and eligibility for such a rapid transplant, Methodist University Hospital in Tennessee has confirmed the surgery and its context.
James D.
Eason, M.D., the hospital’s chief of transplantation, said in a statement that Jobs did receive a liver transplant, and was eligible for a rapid donation “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.” Jobs was said to be recovering well with an excellent prognosis, and chose Methodist due to its nation-leading one-year patient and graft survival rates.
