How Steve Jobs cut in line for a liver transplant. Did Cheney do the same thing for his heart?

[backscatter712]

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/24/liver.transplant.priority.lists/index.html

Did Steve Jobs' money buy him a faster liver transplant?

...

The answer sheds light on the intricacies of the organ transplant system, as well as why it's sometimes easier for people with significant financial resources to get an organ transplant. (Jobs' estimated net worth: $5.7 billion.)

...

The reason that some people might be able to get transplants more quickly is that they're standing in more lines. Nothing prevents someone from being evaluated and listed at multiple transplant centers. As long as a patient has the wherewithal to fly around the country -- and be available at the drop of a hat if a liver becomes available (this is where the private jet comes in handy) -- a patient can, in theory, be evaluated by all the transplant centers in the country.

...

"There's a huge triage involved in getting in," says Caplan. "If you're a homeless alcoholic sleeping on the streets of L.A., and you're going toe-to-toe with Steve Jobs, you're going to lose."

For most people, the ability to pay is a precondition for acceptance at more than one transplant center. Wealthy people who are, in effect, financially "pre-approved" for a liver transplant, can shop around and identify the transplant centers that will give them the best chance of receiving a new organ.

That's how it happens. There isn't one Organ Transplant List - each hospital that does transplants has its own list, and some of them pool, but the fact is that if you're filthy rich, like Steve Jobs, or Dick Cheney, you can shop around, find the hospitals with the shortest transplant lists, make yourself available to fly in for an immediate transplant on that handy Gulfstream, and give yourself a huge advantage over the regular Joe who is listed at only one hospital, the one closest to him, and that may have a long list of recipients waiting ahead of him for organs.

[pnwmom]

1. Interesting post. Thanks!

[snagglepuss]

2. K & R

[stonecutter357]

14. K&R...

Snagglepuss you sound familiar.

[Hissyspit]

3. Reuters reporting he waited longer than average for his age:

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE82N0FK20120325?irpc=932

[emilyg]

4. He was on waiting list for 20 months.

[davidwparker]

6. He may have been, but did he cut in line in front of someone on the waiting list for 25 months? n/t

[Muskypundit]

15. If cheney was using his considerable fortune and influence

To get ahead on that list, it wouldn't have taken 20 months.

[emilyg]

17. Yes - 20 months

is a long time to wait.

[davidwparker]

5. Did these organs come from the dictatorship in communist China? n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Nope

You might want to read on viability.

I know it's a classic of cyberpunk, but there are actual time limits to transplanting an organ, let alone legal ones.

A heart is viable iirc for eight hours. How long does it take to fly Beijing to LA?

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Wrong, CNN has it way wrong

But thst's ok.

There is indeed one list...but whatever...if you want to believe this nothing I can do.

[SunSeeker]

9. Yeah, kinda like how the Yakuza were able to get livers at UCLA.

"After livers, cash to UCLA..."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ucla31-2008may31,0,1503718.story

[freshwest]

10. The real issue: The wealthy have sufficient medical care to keep them alive as they wait.

Because we don't have universal health care. This little blip of a story is focusing on the wrong thing. Prevention.

And there have been notable complaints, such as the transplant for Mantle and Crosby. Both substance abusers. Many people IRL are denied getting on the list because they aren't considered to be responsible enough, that they may simply abuse the new organ. There are exceptions, but that is the claim.

The issue of surviving until one gets to the top of the list is likely due to lack of adequate care. And some people don't even darken the door of the doctor's office because they are not welcome due to having no or lousy insurance.

I think the only worthwhile discussion that could come out of this story is that there will be a push for universal HC. But I won't hold my breath, most people that have theirs have a river in Egypt flowing between them and the uninsured.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. And this is where ironically Dick Chenney

Is the poster boy for government care.

Time to ironically point at Dick and scream SINGLE PAYOR SYSTEM NOW!

[freshwest]

12. Yep. We demand CheneyCare!!!

[4_TN_TITANS]

20. That was my thought too...

Just how much has it cost taxpayers, since his first heart attack in his 30's, to keep this monster walking? Mother Nature has been trying to 'recall' this monstrosity for decades...

[Skittles]

13. another issue: lack of organs

PEOPLE NEED TO MAKE THEIR DONOR WISHES KNOWN!!!

[onehandle]

16. That article never says Steve Jobs 'cut in line.' Only you did.

Though there is always the possibility of preferential treatment once a patient is on a waiting list -- UNOS conducts periodic audits of transplant centers for exactly this reason -- it is unlikely that someone like Steve Jobs can "cut the line" of the transplant waiting list.

Those reccing this post are only reading your made up headline and maybe your cherry picked clips.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

18. This is true. Sure, it's a matter of finding the right organ, but how come the mega-rich

always seem to find them, while people I have known who have been waiting, have been waiting for years? Is it that the mega-rich have more common genetic types while the poor have more unusual and complex genetic types?

[onenote]

19. Since we never hear of the folks who die while waiting for a transplant

how do you know that the mega-rich "always" seem to find them?
Since 1988 there have been over 50,000 heart transplants performed in the US. Do you really think all of them were "mega-rich"?

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. Of course

And don't get me started on the kidney or cornea recipients. By those numbers there are more mega rich tan there are.



There are days I am sure you want to do this. I know I do today.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

26. In real life, money always has an effect in everything. Money talks.

Look at our disaster of a government, our disaster of a country. What more proof do you need than that? That's a result of money greasing palms.

Money talks. In everything.

On paper things sound very honest, like there's a process, and I don't doubt some people have really really good intentions. In real life? Whole nother story.

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. You realize Chenney's wait was above average right?

And all the money in the world cannot buy a genetic match. It s indeed a lottery, and since there are less organs than recipients....

People really need to educate themselves.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

25. I know this much: That money ALWAYS manages to get ahead of everyone, in everything in real life

On paper it does sound good, honest, fantastic, etc., but in real life - different story.

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. On this one you are way off

Since the match is done blindly.

Just as off as those suggesting it came from China.

This s one of the few things that is actually quite blind and quite on purpose.

What Chenney is now, ironically, is the poster child for government health care.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

28. So this is life's only exception? I doubt it. nt

[librechik]

21. so he's available to run for President, right?

[Sgent]

24. That being said

he had his transplant in his home state. So I'm guessing if he did that, it didn't matter in this case.