Apple's Steve Jobs commemorates signing of Calif. organ donor bill
California Gov. Arnold Scwharzenegger signed into law this week a new organ donor registry, and one of its biggest proponents -- Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs -- was on hand for the event.
Schwarzenegger on Tuesday signed into law Senate Bill 1395, which will make it easier for California residents to become an organ donor, and creates the nation's first living donor registry for kidney transplants. According to Stanford Medicine's Scope blog, Jobs spoke at the event and said the law will save thousands of lives each year.
"It's good for everyone," Jobs reportedly said. "The donor's family knows their loved one is making it possible for others to live. Talented surgeons can save the lives they've trained to save. Recipients are given the gift of an extended life... As a transplant recipient, I know how precious this gift of life is."
At Tuesday's event, Schwarzenegger thanked Jobs for his efforts in promoting the passage of Senate Bill 1395, which will create the California Living Donor Registry to help connect those who want to donate with people who ned a transplant.
The law makes it mandatory for California residents to accept or decline the option of becoming an organ donor when they renew their drivers license. Under the old system, residents had to affix a pink sticker to their license -- a step that Jobs felt hurt donations.
Photo by John B. Stafford of Scope
In 2009, Jobs underwent successful liver transplant surgery at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. He said there weren't enough livers in California, which forced him to look elsewhere.
A year after his surgery, Jobs was back at work full-time, with his presence on the company's Cupertino, Calif., campus a common occurrence. The CEO had taken a leave of absence from his company in January due to 2009 due to health issues that, at the time, he insisted were a private matter.
He returned to work part-time that summer, and even took to the stage at Apple's annual music event in September 2009, where he introduced new iPods. The Apple co-founder gave a short introduction in which he acknowledged his road to recovery and said he was gracious for the liver he received from a person in their mid-20s who died in a car crash. The event was Jobs' first public appearance in nearly a year.
Schwarzenegger on Tuesday signed into law Senate Bill 1395, which will make it easier for California residents to become an organ donor, and creates the nation's first living donor registry for kidney transplants. According to Stanford Medicine's Scope blog, Jobs spoke at the event and said the law will save thousands of lives each year.
"It's good for everyone," Jobs reportedly said. "The donor's family knows their loved one is making it possible for others to live. Talented surgeons can save the lives they've trained to save. Recipients are given the gift of an extended life... As a transplant recipient, I know how precious this gift of life is."
At Tuesday's event, Schwarzenegger thanked Jobs for his efforts in promoting the passage of Senate Bill 1395, which will create the California Living Donor Registry to help connect those who want to donate with people who ned a transplant.
The law makes it mandatory for California residents to accept or decline the option of becoming an organ donor when they renew their drivers license. Under the old system, residents had to affix a pink sticker to their license -- a step that Jobs felt hurt donations.
Photo by John B. Stafford of Scope
In 2009, Jobs underwent successful liver transplant surgery at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. He said there weren't enough livers in California, which forced him to look elsewhere.
A year after his surgery, Jobs was back at work full-time, with his presence on the company's Cupertino, Calif., campus a common occurrence. The CEO had taken a leave of absence from his company in January due to 2009 due to health issues that, at the time, he insisted were a private matter.
He returned to work part-time that summer, and even took to the stage at Apple's annual music event in September 2009, where he introduced new iPods. The Apple co-founder gave a short introduction in which he acknowledged his road to recovery and said he was gracious for the liver he received from a person in their mid-20s who died in a car crash. The event was Jobs' first public appearance in nearly a year.
Comments
At Tuesday's event, Schwarzenegger thanked Jobs for his efforts in promoting the passage of Senate Bill 1395
What did Steve do to promote this bill?
I don't recall seeing anything anything apart from a few very short comments about transplants after his return.
-kpluck
Until they add an option that prevents my organs from being given to someone serving a prison term, they will rot with the rest of my body after I die.
-kpluck
What a sorry thing to say.
What a sorry thing to say.
In more ways than one.
What a sorry thing to say.
Well, they are his organs so he's entitled to his opinion, and I think to a non judgmental response by other.
I am not currently living in the states but I would hesitate to sign an organ donor release for fear of the impact it might have on my family. When you lose a loved one it's hard enough to have doctors taking him in and out of surgeries to take the organs, or the bureaucracy associated with that, the extra wait to take the body to it's final resting place etc. etc. Of course I don't know how streamlined all these are in the states.
Still, it's a shame if something happens and there are intact organs that go to waist.
It would be interesting if you could specify what kind of demographic your organs should go to, in order of priority of course. And why shouldn't you?
Anyway knock on wood on all that.
Well, they are his organs so he's entitled to his opinion, and I think to a non judgmental response by other.
I am not currently living in the states but I would hesitate to sign an organ donor release for fear of the impact it might have on my family. When you lose a loved one it's hard enough to have doctors taking him in and out of surgeries to take the organs, or the bureaucracy associated with that, the extra wait to take the body to it's final resting place etc. etc. Of course I don't know how streamlined all these are in the states.
Still, it's a shame if something happens and there are intact organs that go to waist.
It would be interesting if you could specify what kind of demographic your organs should go to, in order of priority of course. And why shouldn't you?
Anyway knock on wood on all that.
Still, it was a simplistic comment. For example, did it occur to him that maybe one or two of the people in prison didn't do anything? Check with Illinois on that one.
But I do agree with what you're saying - and I'd surmise that people who aren't living donors or recipients ( or family of those people) don't fully grasp the emotional and psychological complexity of organ donation.
Still, it was a simplistic comment. For example, did it occur to him that maybe one or two of the people in prison didn't do anything? Check with Illinois on that one.
But I do agree with what you're saying - and I'd surmise that people who aren't living donors or recipients ( or family of those people) don't fully grasp the emotional and psychological complexity of organ donation.
I agree on all points. I just read that in the UK there was some research done recently and even with those who are donors, the bereaved families more often than not object and manage to block the process long enough for it to be too late. Only when the death occurs in the hospital do they really stand a chance of harvesting organs. The number per day dying in the UK because of lack of organs was three (best as I can recall).
This needs to be stressed ... the emotional reaction when family learns the lack of a donor will result in the death of a their loved one. If people could imagine or try to imagine that feeling they may be more willing to donate or allow those that chose to donate to do so.
What did Steve do to promote this bill?
I don't recall seeing anything anything apart from a few very short comments about transplants after his return.
That bill has been sitting on some senator's desk for years because he couldn't get any support for it. After his transplant Steve talked to Maria Shriever and asked her to talked to her husband about the bill and then Arnold and Steve talked about it. Steve pushed for this bill to be signed by the Governor. I guess if it wasn't for Steve this bill would've continued to sit on a desk collecting dust for who knows how many more years...
This is a big deal actually. There is a serious shortage of organs especially in CA and with this bill passed this will greatly increase the number of organs available and save a lot more lives.
Steve is lucky he is rich and he was able to go all over the country to get checked in as many hospitals and be listed in as many organ recipient waiting list. Regular people cannot afford to do what Steve did coz Insurance companies will only pay for beneficiaries to be listed in one place.
Looks like an alien.
He does look awful. Let me be as crass as possible and say that there's one thing that could, possibly rightfully, crash Apple stock's rocket to the moon, and that's Jobs' health. Eat, man. Give the liver something to do!
Steve is lucky he is rich and he was able to go all over the country to get checked in as many hospitals and be listed in as many organ recipient waiting list. Regular people cannot afford to do what Steve did coz Insurance companies will only pay for beneficiaries to be listed in one place.
Jesus Christ on a Popsicle stick. You REALLY have no clue how organ transplants work, do you? YOU CANNOT BE ON MORE THAN ONE TRANSPLANT WAITING LIST!
Steve Jobs didn't do ANYTHING different from ordinary people. Yes, ordinary people go to other states for transplants all the time due to organ shortages caused by the lack of organ donors in their home state.
And why shouldn't he go to Tennessee, if that's where the best liver transplant doctors are? Plenty of people go to other states for organ transplants. It's not the exclusive domain of the rich.
He gamed the system.
Until they add an option that prevents my organs from being given to someone serving a prison term, they will rot with the rest of my body after I die.
-kpluck
You might require a medical checkup as it appears that it's already commenced.
Jesus Christ on a Popsicle stick. You REALLY have no clue how organ transplants work, do you? YOU CANNOT BE ON MORE THAN ONE TRANSPLANT WAITING LIST!
Really?! I guess I should ask my very nice neighbor again (who God bless him got a transplant last year) how he was able to get waitlisted in 3 different hospitals in 3 different states.
Allah, Buddha, Ishta on a Popsicle stick. You REALLY have no clue how organ transplants work, do you? UNOS policies permit "multiple listing." However, each hospital has its own criteria for listing patients and may have different rules about patients listing at other hospitals. Candidates may be waitlisted at multiple transplant centers. These transplant centers may be located within the same Organ Procurement Organization service area or these transplant centers may be located within different OPO service areas.
I work in a hospital and talk to people that know liver transplants for Job's condition and they say he gamed the system.
He gamed the system.
Not only is your claim hearsay, but you offer no evidence. Unless you have proof, stop slandering people.
Well, they are his organs so he's entitled to his opinion, and I think to a non judgmental response by other.
I am not currently living in the states but I would hesitate to sign an organ donor release for fear of the impact it might have on my family. When you lose a loved one it's hard enough to have doctors taking him in and out of surgeries to take the organs, or the bureaucracy associated with that, the extra wait to take the body to it's final resting place etc. etc. Of course I don't know how streamlined all these are in the states.
Still, it's a shame if something happens and there are intact organs that go to waist.
It would be interesting if you could specify what kind of demographic your organs should go to, in order of priority of course. And why shouldn't you?
Anyway knock on wood on all that.
When you donate your organs...it's not multiple surgeries. Usually they just take all that is donate-able in one surgery...
Not only is your claim hearsay, but you offer no evidence. Unless you have proof, stop slandering people.
Maybe he read it on the internet? If so, it would HAVE to be true.
Right?
I am not currently living in the states but I would hesitate to sign an organ donor release for fear of the impact it might have on my family. When you lose a loved one it's hard enough to have doctors taking him in and out of surgeries to take the organs, or the bureaucracy associated with that, the extra wait to take the body to it's final resting place etc.
So in their time of grief, you'd rather have the hospital asking them to consider donating your organs? Instead of you making the decision and talking it over with them long before (hopefully) it ever comes to that point.
My niece died when she was 15 (from asthma complications) and my brother decided to donate.
She helped like 11 other people, including her heart (on Valentine's Day) to a 12 year old girl, who would not have made it.
As was pointed out, it is not in and out of surgery. They do it now and they do it quick. They do let the family have time with them before they do it but other peoples lives are on the line also. It's not like it takes days or even many hours.
I work in a hospital and talk to people that know liver transplants for Job's condition and they say he gamed the system.
He gamed the system.
Ah... The hypocrisy. Even if what you say is true, if you were in his place, dying but have the money and resource, you'd do the same.
But then again people talk lies. If you believe what others say without finding out for yourself if its true then that's just typical ignorance.
Fact is Jobs went to such great length to save his own life, going from one center to another and see where he'll have the best chance at getting a transplant. If he truly "gamed" the system as you say, then he didn't need to go all over the country non-stop from January to March, just go to one center, pay them off to be in front of the list, and be done with it. Multiple listing for an organ is not illegal, it's just not everyone can afford to go all over the place to do so.