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Jun 29, 09 - 08:31 am Comment from: Think

Umm, until the rules are changed, there is nothing wrong.
Trolling for hits.

Jun 29, 09 - 08:33 am Comment from: silverhawk

WWMBD
What would Mayor Bloomberg do?

Jun 29, 09 - 08:43 am Comment from: Jersey_Trader

It is good that Steve Jobs looked for a better life saving option outside of California. They are doing the same at Apple. Did you here that they are putting up a Billion dollar server facility in the Carolinas (NOT California).

"Governor signs tax break, Apple confirms it will build NC data center, investing at least $1 billion"
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/21334/

Lots of people and corporations are avoiding the disaster in California now.

Next Jobs will have to report what color underwear he is wearing on what particular day. Maybe he can attach a device to him that will Tweet to us all.

What a waste of time, re-hash.
Leave it alone and move on people.
Just some anti Apple reporters trying to get hits.
Losers.

Jun 29, 09 - 08:49 am Comment from: KingMel

There are two issues that people should consider: (1) the need for more organ donors so that supply meets demand, and (2) the cost of organ transplants relative to the financial capacity and insurance status of most Americans.

The uproar about SJ's superior access to donated organs because of his wealth ignores the other half of the equation - the increasing inadequacy of the current health care insurance system.

Look at the good side of it, now everybody knows where to get new liver.
If not for Jobs, people would still be waiting, now, they know that if they move to Tennessee, they have a better chance,

They should reward Jobs for bringing this to a daylight

In article after article by Connie Guglielmo of Bloomberg on the issue of Steve Jobs' health, she has attempted to vilify him for:

1. Having cancer
2. How he has apparently not disclosed his private health information to her personal satisfaction
3. Seeking a liver
4. And in this latest hit piece, inferring that he may have used his power to alter his MELD score in order to go to the head of the line

Let's face it: Connie wants Steve to die. Horribly. And she wants to take down Apple with him. So she is abusing her power as a journalist to go on a one-person vendetta, and kick an ailing man when he's down. She is essentially blaming Steve Jobs for everything she can conjure, including apparently being to blame for the way liver transplants are doled out across the United States.

I could have laced this posting with profanities, but somehow I held back. I'm not sure if Steve pissed in her cornflakes a few years back, and she's trying to get revenge, or if she's on Steve Ballmer's payroll. But I do know this: Connie has an axe to grind, or she's acting on behalf of someone who does.

Nothing will change unless we, the readers, take action. If you agree, why not write Connie at , and let her know how you feel? It takes so little to bitch-slap Connie, yet it means so much. Won't you help?

"Steve Jobs, Apple Inc.’s chief executive officer, got a liver transplant quickly because of a U.S. system that favors patients with the means to rush to geographic areas where there is less competition for organs,"

though it may be injustice let's all be thankful for the flaws of this system. imagine jobs having died because the list was too long ...

I agree with you, KM. Everything health-care related in the US is just plain wrong. We really and truly must scrap our current system and emulate Canada, England, and most of the rest of the "free" world. Then, and only then, will we all have access to the same mediocre--but egalitarian--health care, regardless of what we have done personally to earn or deserve it.

Sickies of the world unite! The only thing you have to lose is your life!

(As a wise man once said, "If you think health care in this country is expensive right now, just wait until it's free!)

Jun 29, 09 - 09:05 am Comment from: Think

@KingMel

Yes, very valid points.
As I always tell people, "If normal, good insurance cost you $20 a month, would there be a problem here?"

Government is not going to fix the problem, you need to ask why are premiums going up?

Might have something to do with all those ER visits for stabbings, GSWs, and throw in the "I have sniffles, go to the ER". Throw in all the liability lawsuits also.

Hospital accountants look at the ER department and it has to be a giant black hole that just sucks hundreds of thousands of dollars away. Docs and nurses have to be paid, so all other procedures get marked up so the hospital does not go out of business.

Just look at small towns, many have lost all OBG docs because of frivolous lawsuits that had nothing to do with them but it caused their liability insurance to skyrocket. They can't make money, so they leave small town for big city. There are many towns that pregnant women have to drive 2 or more hours to see a doc.

Sorry for the rant...

I wish these guys would make up their minds as to whether they support a Reagonomics top down approach, or a socialist (egalitarian) approach. They certainly can argue all sides of an issue can't they?

If a region has a long waiting list because of a lack of donors, then they should do something about it instead of robbing other, more successful regions. What incentive will California have to improve if they can start getting organs from Tennessee?

Thankfully, we have charitable people like this:

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/anonymous_philanthropist_donates

Jun 29, 09 - 09:19 am Comment from: lurker

If you're very sick and you're very rich, and application of money would help you survive, what would you do? Apply the money. He didn't buy anyone else's place in line, he used his money to find a shorter line.

That more donated organs should be available is not in question. That everyone should have quality health care available to them is in question only in the minds of a few. That we haven't figured out how to make that happen is undeniable. Hope springs etrenal.

Jun 29, 09 - 09:20 am Comment from: HMCIV

I'm planning an organ donor incentive program with my cousin Vinny. What? You can't make an omelet without breaking a few legs eggs.

Jun 29, 09 - 09:40 am Comment from: Think

@lurker

"...more donated organs should be available is not in question."

But if a city or region has double or quadruple the population as the other region, then maybe they should have double or quadruple donated organs. Then the next question to ask is why is there less in this region? What is the per capita donated organs per region?
Are CA people more uppity than Mideast people and don't donate as much? (joke) If I get time at lunch I'll try to find more info and any other stats.

I have no idea how this is run, so if there are any experts out there in the organ donor field, speak up.

"I'm from the Government. I'm here to help you..."

Jun 29, 09 - 09:51 am Comment from: theloniousMac

@Dave

Well said.

Jun 29, 09 - 09:55 am Comment from: BDecker

Waiting for SJ to promote organ donation, even though the system is badly flawed.

I don't think that Jobs did anything wrong - this is a non issue.

But on another note - it takes something like this for people to realize that our healthcare system is f*'d?

If we accept the premise that a nationalized organ donor system is somehow less "flawed" than a local system, aren't we then accepting the idea that ALL patients will have to fly at a moment's notice to wherever the organ becomes available? If so, then why villify SJ for doing just that?

It seems you can't argue for one and against the other.

-AP

Jun 29, 09 - 10:16 am Comment from: breeze

@ Dave: very well said.

Everyone else: write the bitch and wish her and her loved ones the same.

A Pox on you and your family Connie...

Sure money makes things easier in this country, organ transplants included. I received a kidney-pancreas transplant six years ago here in the Washington DC area. I was on two lists (the other in MD) and waited 3.5 years. If I had the $$ I would have done exactly what SJ did. I don't blame him in any way. Money makes A LOT of things easier in this country, so why the huge fuss over him using his to better his life?

The REAL problem isn't that he used his earnings to better his chance of obtaining an organ, but that there aren't enough organs being donated in this country period! If more people would check the donor box on their driver's license application, there'd be plenty to go around and it wouldn't matter if you had a private jet to fly you to a better donor location or not.

Also getting the organ is only half the issue. All the medications and care after a transplant is VERY expensive and most transplant facilities won't even give you the organ until you can prove you have some way to cover the post-transplant expenses (either personally, with insurance, or via state or federal funded programs).

It's easy to dog Steve Jobs for doing what anyone that had the same facilities as he would do, but how many people making a fuss have that little 'red heart' emblem on their driver's license indicating to emergency and hospital personnel that they're an organ donor? Want to make a real difference and not just here yourself talk? Sign up to be an organ donor. I did, long before I ever dreamed I'd ever need one.

I'm really getting sick of these complaints. Part of the reason these organs are kept local is logistical- it's not like a liver does as well if it sits in a cooler for an extra 4 hours to get from Memphis to California. If you can harvest and implant in the same facility, or locality- your patient will do better. No ammount of hand wringing about what's fair is going to change that. We are all going to die someday. That's not fair- who are you going to blame, God?

Furthermore- I'm sure anyone could move closer to Memphis to be in a shorter line. You might have to rent a rat-hole and not live in a mansion.

The real trouble - folks in many regions aren't giving up their parts. Once your done w/ them- why keep 'em.

Nobody seems to complain when some alcoholic washed up baseball player gets a liver. Why is that?

Yes, we actually should get a national health care system... I say "get" because we don't presently have one.
I'm amazed that conservatives can simultaneously argue that; A) a public option will be ruinously expensive and provide crappy care, B) lean, efficient corporate profit-driven plans couldn't compete with such a system.

Regardless of neocon cognitive dysfunctions, there's no arguing with the measurable health outcomes in countries that have a national health care system and those that don't, like us and.. Columbia. Oops... sorry, THEY have a more effective system than us, too.

http://www.who.int/whr/2000/media_centre/press_release/en/index.html

Jun 29, 09 - 10:34 am Comment from: twilightmoon

I think that *EVERY* journalist that writes on this issue should disclose whether or not they are on the organ donor list.

Also, the lack of donors withstanding the US has the best healthcare system in the world, and I'd hate to see it ruined by completely socializing it, and making healthcare like the DMV.

I know there are people who think that we'd have the exact same quality of care available to everyone at the same or lower cost, but that's just impossible. It defies physics. If it were possible I would have no problem with it, but it's not.

Since it's not, people who argue for socialized medicine are essentially arguing for universally crappy healthcare. That will help certain people at the bottom but at the expense of most of the middle class.

Hopefully it won't happen.

First, I'm sorry that Steve Jobs is mixed up in this. He did nothing wrong.

Second, it does make little sense that one State has a shorter list than another State. Liver's should be prioritized on a Nationwide basis taking into account the logistics of preservation and transportation.

Third, the problem is a political one and I have little faith that a political solution will also be the optimal solution.

Fourth and finally, I do know from Predictably Unpredictable (Dan Ariely) that the best way to promote organ donation is to make it the default option when one is acquiring or updating their driver's license. Most people will donate their organ's if they don't have to take the time or thought required to "opt-in".

@Dave
Thank you for articulating your disapproval of the said 'journalist' in such a levelheaded manner. I probably would have failed, had I tried, and I did seriously think about writing her a letter once. I actually thought at the time that she is just misinformed by a supremely biased book called AppIe Confidential 2.0, and maybe I could shed a light on a few of her apparent mistakes. But sadly, that is not the case. She indeed appears to be on a payroll somewhere to try and tarnish a great mind of our time, with tasteless and shamelessly naked prejudice.

I remember, when her obituary for Steve Jobs got 'accidentally' published last year, where she found a way to remember the man as someone who parked cars at a handicap zone etc. among some of his legacies (very few people realise that this bit of information has only ONE source who couldn't be sure himself as there were no license plate and also no photos, and this 'rumour' has been circulating the net like it's a proven fact now.)

If you go back a decade or even earlier, she was not as nasty. But these days, she just comes across as a vulture, as MDN has noted once. What a sad, small and pitiful life it must be, to spend much of your creative time and effort wishing someone else's demise with undue dishonour. Gives you an impression she doesn't have a mirror in her abode. Sad, this.

MDN MW: hell, as in one day someone is sure to wake up to a rude awakening when much of life is gone vilifying someone else and it has really been a self made hell.

@Nathan, I'm not an expert here, but I suspect that part of the problem is that the government healthcare would be much cheaper to insure than the private industry one, and therefore many common insurance plans would only cover government healthcare or would require much higher premiums and/or other expenses that would put the private industry out of reach for most people and eventually cause it to collapse.

Thus the poor quality and expensive (in taxes) healthcare would trump the higher quality and less expensive (overall) healthcare.

Jun 29, 09 - 11:08 am Comment from: Think

@Nathan

"A) a public option will be ruinously expensive and provide crappy care"

Yep.

Example 1: Medicare

Example 2: Veterans Health Care

Ask anyone older than 65 that had to get Medicare, how much better it is than private health insurance. (Irony)

Ask any war veteran that got hurt in active duty how well the government is taking care of them.

Add those two together and give it to the entire US...
Disaster.

Ask yourself and everyone you know, why are we not getting the exact same health plan that congress has??

Same reason we have social security and congress has a "special" pension plan.

It should be a golden rule to be eligible for an organ as an adult. If you don't list yourself as a donor, then you are not eligible to be a recipient.

You should be willing to give of yourself if you wish to receive from the system.

MDN magic word - steps - as in, drastic steps need to be taken to wake people up!

Jun 29, 09 - 11:18 am Comment from: Think

@Falkirk

Just found the Region Map.
http://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/members/regions.asp

What I find interesting is they state the reasons for this is:
• reduce organ preservation time;
• improve organ quality and survival outcomes;
• reduce the costs incurred by the transplant patient;
• increase access to transplantation.

All of those are related to distance, but if you look at the map, region 5 is roughly the size of 10, 2 and 11 combined. So the region sizes don't go with the statements. So is population factored in?

"Jobs’s Gulfstream V, a business jet made by General Dynamics Corp. of Falls Church, Virginia, flew into Memphis at least 10 times between March 24 and May 21 this year, according to flight records Bloomberg News obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Whether Jobs was on those flights couldn’t be confirmed," Lauerman and Guglielmo report.

Steve had to get tests to qualify him to get priority on the list. So that explains some of the trips, plus a lot of near misses I'm sure or others waiting ahead of Steve.

Also ANYONE needing a transplant could simply move near the location, in fact this would have been better for Steve, but he chose to be all the way in California.

Screw the media, assholes.

Jun 29, 09 - 11:50 am Comment from: Think

Donation Stats (for those that care)

All the data is from: http://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/members/regions.asp

Region 5 which is where California is. Total livers donated in 2008 is 966.
Region 11 which is where Tennessee is. Total livers donated in 2008 is 839.

Region 5 total human population estimated for 2006 is 49,625,000.
Region 11 total human population estimated for 2006 is 31,066,000.

At this point anyone can do the math.

Stats I wanted to see:
Donated livers per capita in region five, 1 per 51,372 people.

Donated livers per capita in region elevan, 1 per 37,028 people.

Region 11 has 7% more people willing to donate livers.

0.0023% of the US population donated livers, this is a sad, sad fact. Not even 1%.


For you statisticians, don't crucify me for rough numbers, all I had was part of my lunch to pull this together.
Be an organ donor.

Jun 29, 09 - 11:59 am Comment from: Think

Correction or addendum

Assuming the liver donor has died, 0.3% of "that" group have donated livers. Still a very low number.

@Think: I agree that more people need to donate; I'm a donor. However, you have to factor in that being an organ donor is often something that can occur only once in a lifetime, and actually is often when the person dies. Also, many people who die may have conditions that prevent their organs from being used (disease, drug damage, incineration, etc.). So the number of people signed up as donors is much higher than the yearly giving suggests.

Now let's suppose you're a liver donor, but you drink so much that your liver is worthless. So in that case, we could add to "Be an organ donor," the further request, "Don't drink" ... or at least, "If you drink, drink very little." Same for drugs, etc.

Bloomberg would skip the viagra and go straight for the new organ.

Military Police:

Organ donation is NOT necessarily a once-in-a-lifetime thing (a single person can donate multiple organs), nor is it necessary for the donor to be dead. Kidney, single-lung, and partial-liver transplants can be performed from a healthy living donor.

If the stats said that 20% of organs were donated, but only .3% of organs were USABLE, then you'd have an argument for keeping your organs healthy for donation. That's not the case. Increasing the donor pool will go much further than dictating lifestyle to the donors.

forget "donating organs", they should just start harvesting dead bodies period--what was that? was that quissiness I just heard from the bleeding hearts on the left--who constantly whine about shortages but do nothing to fix the problem?

Jun 30, 09 - 01:25 am Comment from: GregoriusM

Okay, aside from all of the serious stuff, did his personal jet fly at least 6 times or at least 10 times.

If I was a journalist of "integrity" (cough cough), I'd at least have checked my "at least" numbers twice.

I'm just sayin'...

On another note, this is serious business and it saddens me that so few people donate their organs. They are of no use to you when you're gone. And I think I read that if you donate all of your organs, 10 people on average benefit from your gift(s), and some of them benefit by staying alive!

Steve used his wealth to get to where he was legally able to get the transplant and I don't blame him.

The rest needs fixing. Now. Do it, USA!

Not that I know if Canada is any better.

Greg

Jun 30, 09 - 09:14 am Comment from: Think

@Dave

Nice one!
Short and to the point.