Steve Jobs nearly died and lied about it

[cabron]

For daring to steal fire from the Gods, it is said, Prometheus was chained to a rock and sentenced to having his liver pecked out by birds.

Steve Jobs can relate.

Not only did Apple come awfully close to losing Jobs over the last few months, but he will never be truly out of the woods.

The bottom line is that Jobs is very lucky to be alive following a liver transplant. The first took place in 1967, but it did not become common until the 1980s, with the introduction of cyclosporine.

About 6,000 liver transplants are now done each year in the U.S., but the waiting list for organs averages 17,000. Those waiting lists could be reduced as more donors can now survive having part of their liver removed for transplant.

How and why did Jobs jump the queue? He was dieing faster than others, the company now admits.

Paul Argenti of Dartmouth?s business school says Apple deserves to face SEC action for lieing about Jobs? condition, which is the outgrowth of his 2004 pancreatic cancer.

I hate to be one of those birds pecking at Prometheus, but I agree.

This would not be the first time for Jobs on the SEC?s operating table. He was questioned in a scandal over the backdating of stock options, with Jobs later telling Forbes ?nobody loves me.?

That?s not true at all. What we don?t like, and what we shouldn?t be made to like, is a lie material to our investment. Apple is as dependent on Jobs as any U.S. company since Walt Disney, and he spent months denying he was knock, knock, knockin on heaven?s door.

Jobs? January letter, calling his condition a ?nutritional problem,? was a lie from beginning to end. A straight-out, bald-faced lie. I complained about this possibility a year ago, and repeat the complaint.

Why, Steve? Were you embarrassed? Not want us to make a fuss? Don?t like get well cards? Or were you trying to boost your own fortunes in case the liver didn?t come and you actually did die?

It?s hard to have to ask these questions, even though Jobs is reportedly back at work, because he is, and will remain, a very sick man. Jobs will have to take drugs that suppress his immune system for the rest of his life. He?s got a 9 in 10 chance of still being with us in 2014.

But a bird?s got to peck where a bird?s got to peck. And if the journalism gods tell you to peck at Prometheus? liver, that?s what you do.

Source: ZdNet HealthCare

[Shetland]

ugh, i think he deserves the right to not disclose the exact details of his problem. not only for his personal feelings but because his business would get hit hard too.

[HistoricalNeowin]

ugh, i think he deserves the right to not disclose the exact details of his problem. not only for his personal feelings but because his business would get hit hard too.

Isn't that the point, that he has to disclose, because of the business?

[Miuku.]

Looks like Dana wants Steve to die.

"Quality post", something I would expect to read from the Digg's comments section or here at Neowin in the RWI.

[limok]

Jobs was to go then AAPL will die

[9UnknownMen]

C'mon if he had died they'd be no way any blowback would ever occur. He's been already deified over and over the last 7months so if he croaked there would've been a lot of revisionist hype and mourning that would drowned out any criticism.

It's still astounds me that they got away releasing that obvious BS letter about his nutrition and then announcing a week later he's in need for time off.

Also don't forget this a company that masterful at handling the press. Right before WWDC, 'unnamed sources' told WSJ that he might grace the world with his presence and that ended up being the press meme the whole week running up to the event. Then on the day of iPhone 3GS launch another 'leak' to the WSJ about his 'successful' 'non-eventful' surgery and speculation he'll be back by months end.

[bob_c_b]

Did he lie or just exercise his personal privacy? The media is speculating that "no one knew" but I'd be willing to bet the "right people" knew and also the Apple legal dept and key board members. Additionally, I would not under estimate Jobs importance to Apple, but there are a lot of smart folks in the company and I'm sure as soon as Steve was sick there were contingency scenarios being built.

[Snakehn]

the guy wants to keep his **** to himself, so what?

let him have some privacy, the media is evil sometimes, how many times has the guy died this year?

[surrealvortex]

Is Apple a public company? If yes, he should not have lied. Apple is impelled by Jobs just as Microsoft was by Gates. He is the public face of the company and the share holders should not have been lied to as a sudden death would have adversely affected the share prices. He could have denied comments on his health stating that it was a private matter, but the article insinuates that he actually lied about it.

[t_r_nelson]

Jobs is under no obligation to reveal his personal medical situation, past or present. He could say whatever he wants or as little as he wants. Medical privacy is held higher than any business regulations.

If he were to go to the doctor, there would be reporting on it. He could say nothing, he could say he had a hangnail, or he could say he is having liver issues. It's up to him. But, no matter what he says, he is not beholden to the stockholders to reveal his personal medical records.

[(Spork)]

WHO CARES!!!!

i mean damn leave the guy alone its his private life

[HeartsOfWar]

The whole point to investing in the stock market is to boost the economy while providing high gain to those that take the risk. More and more every year, we see investors trying to reduce the risk without giving up their previous gains.

This is the kind of crap that you get... cheap investors whining about their investment.

Jobs' health is personal... end of story. If you want to continue siphoning money into a company where the CEO is rumored to be ill, you're taking a risk... plain and simple.

[Aragorn]

What does Steve Jobs personal health problems have to do with me and my Apple products? Nothing? I thought so.

Steve Jobs is not a celebrity, he's the Apple CEO.

[pdmcmahon]

What does Steve Jobs personal health problems have to do with me and my Apple products? Nothing? I thought so.

Steve Jobs is not a celebrity, he's the Apple CEO.

+1

Exactly!

While I enjoy the man's keynotes, charisma and personality, he is not the reason I buy their products.

Furthermore, he is just one person, give me man some friggin privacy. Cripes!

[etempest]

If your an investor in apple, you have right to be upset if there any deception on Steve Jobs part.

If you don't own stock in apple, it shouldn't matter.

[rakeshishere]

LEAVE STEVE JOBS ALONE !!

[halcyoncmdr]

Medical confidentiality is above just about any other law here in the US. Including just about every law relating to business. Only way around it really is to have a judge order the medical condition to be disclosed, which is extremely uncommon. If they don't want to talk about it, they don't have to. Jobs is under no legal obligation to disclose any medical condition to anyone. Should he have disclosed it? That is debatable, but he has the right to decide that for himself.

[Dead_Monkey]

What does Steve Jobs personal health problems have to do with me and my Apple products? Nothing? I thought so.

Steve Jobs is not a celebrity, he's the Apple CEO.

He's more than a CEO. If you need evidence of that, just look back at Apple's performance in that period when he wasn't.

He's a one-man marketing machine. When he leaves, there will be a lot more impact on Apple than there was at Microsoft when Gates retired.

[hdood]

Lies and deception?

Business as usual at Apple, then.

[bob_c_b]

He's more than a CEO. If you need evidence of that, just look back at Apple's performance in that period when he wasn't.

He's a one-man marketing machine. When he leaves, there will be a lot more impact on Apple than there was at Microsoft when Gates retired.

You can't compare the team Steve has built now with what was in place in those days, I think it will be traumatic to Apple when he leaves, but not the end of the world.

[Srugie Veteran]

He does have the right to privacy.

[null_]

While I believe that it was wrong to "deceive" the public, Steve Jobs does have a right to privacy. This isn't a secret product or insider stock trading we're talking about, this is his personal health. I feel bad for him, with everyone picking and digging at his personal life.

[Unimatrix Xero]

So what if he did lie? has the man got a right for some privicy? ok im not the biggest fan of Apple and that bloke, but even still even if he did lie, im sure it was warrented, so back of telling people he lied when all he wanted was some privicy

[bdsams Veteran]

I think that he should have had to disclose something...he disclosed something about a nutrition problem that turned out to be a lie and there is no cover for that, he knew he needed a new liver and he lied to the public and more importnatly the shareholders....

when your the CEO of a publicly traded company you sacrafice many freedoms, something should have been reported to the SEC as Steve Jobs is Apple....

[9UnknownMen]

Warren Buffett puts in context.

I think that if I have any serious, uh, i dont know, something serious coming up of an important nature, an operation or anything like that, i think the thing to do is just tell the American, (pause) Berkshire shareholders about it. Ya know, I work for them, uh, some people might think I’m important to the company. They certainly see Jobs as important to Apple and so it’s a material fact. Whether he is facing serious surgery or not is a material fact. Whether I’m facing surgery is a material fact… I think that’s important to get out… They’re gonna find out about it anyway so I don’t see a big privacy issue or anything of the sort.