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Steve Jobs helps push organ donation legislation

During a surprise appearance at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, California, Steve Jobs joined California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to help advance organ donation legislation.

Last year, Jobs flew to Tennessee to receive a liver transplant, and spoke briefly of this. "There were not enough livers in California to go around," he said, according to the San Jose Mercury News. "I was advised by my Stanford doctors to enroll on a list at a Memphis hospital, because it was more favorable to get a liver there. I was fortunate."

And without the transplant, Jobs said, "I could have died."

Steve Jobs returned to work at Apple in June 2009 and, according to the report, told other transplant survivors that he is currently feeling fine. "It's been a pretty good last few months."

If passed, the legislation could help save more lives by making it easier for Californians to affirm their preferred organ donor status. The current system, says Jobs, "is an obscure process." Full text of the legislation, Senate Bill 1395, can be viewed here.

To find out more about organ donation, visit Donate Life America, the Mayo Clinic's 10 myths of organ donation, and, lastly, state organ and tissue donor registries at OrganDonor.Gov.

[via Silicon Alley Insider]



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Steve Jobs

During a surprise appearance at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, California, Steve Jobs joined California Governor...
 

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kelly oswald

your amazing steve, came back again and turned the company around.

http://www.topgradeacaiextreme.org

March 30 2010 at 6:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Kellz

Steve Jobs is a role model for me. He always stands up for the right things, and his convocation speech was just amazing. Organ donation should be made mandatory as it does save lives. Surely culture shouldn't prevail over life...

sincerely,
Kathy Williams
CEO of Top Grade Acai Extreme

March 22 2010 at 4:07 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Kellz's comment
Kellz

I forgot to add that everyone should checkout the speech that Steve Jobs made. He talks about how the small decisions you make in life really change the course of everything, and how all the dots connect in the end.

http://www.topgradeacaiextreme.org

March 22 2010 at 4:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tom Leeds

Dear Steve Jobs,

I've thought this for years but have no clout to get anyone to listen to me so I hope you get to read this.
Signing the back of your drivers license is a great idea and a lot of people do sign it but I think the majority who don't only do not because they are lazy and not because of any real objection to it.
What if we changed the program to be the reverse. Have the default be to be an organ donor and people had to opt out. I've been at the DMV and I've seen people when asked if they wanted to be an organ donor just kinda shrug which puts them in the "non-donor" category. I think if the reverse were true, those same people would still just shrug but would then be in the "donor" category. This simple change in policy would most likely increase donors ten fold. And you sir are the man who could get the right people to make that happen.

Sincerely
Tom Leeds, Chicago IL

March 22 2010 at 3:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
kermtdefrg

Here is a NYTimes article that asked Steve Jobs to make an organ donation iPhone app: http://bit.ly/4CAdrD

March 20 2010 at 11:24 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Alex B

I think Arnold misunderstood when Californians demanded, "we need more jobs."

March 20 2010 at 9:42 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
balls

Curious: Is Jobs signed up to be an Organ Donor?

March 20 2010 at 2:13 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
smithevne

If this were the case, America would certainly not be debating whether the wealthy, such as Steve Jobs

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Economy/sto…

can circumvent the current system (for a liver), while 2,000 of the 16,000 others with less money die each year, waiting for that liver.

Personally, I wouldn't mind having my abdomen slit open after I'm dead to have my liver removed to give life, even to a lowlife piece of trash whose just gonna pickle it again, but 1) I don't want my whole d-amn body harvested for every organ and butchered like a kiddie scissors class has cut it up for paper dolls, and 2) it's not mandated by the government so why bother to opt-in.

What are the negative aspects of America requiring organ donation of only a few, targeted organs from each dead citizen? ...other than the fact that it would kill the current game, and America loves its lil games--i.e. it couldn't simply be b/c the insurance companies don't wanna fund the thousands of transplants per year?

Or is it just not practical b/c there still wouldn't be enough compatible organs (e.g. properly aged, as the average person dies somewhere after 70); or the transplant aftermaths are too tricky to be worthwhile?
http://topgradeacaiextreme.net

March 20 2010 at 1:05 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to smithevne's comment
VanillaSpice

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/organ-donation/FL00077

"Organ donation: Don't let these 10 myths confuse you" (linked in the article)

Note the following myths:

Myth #9 (the rich get special treatment)
Myth #5 (your body will be butchered)

March 21 2010 at 10:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Hal

@Jonathan Garro,
That is formal wear for Mr. Jobs.

March 19 2010 at 11:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Hal's comment
Jonathan Garro

Yeah, thats about right.

PS - Really TUAW, you don't let commenters erase their own messages? 1Password filled in an old comment on this article when I logged in, and I can't erase it? Sorry about that hotkey comment earlier...

March 19 2010 at 11:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dan

Does Steve ever change his shirt or pants? Just saying...

March 19 2010 at 9:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Dan's comment
Jonathan Garro

I have a question regarding the Command + Tab command. When I hold that and flip to a new program, all that happens for me is that the menu bar at the top of the screen shows it as being selected, but the window doesn't show up. For example, I tab over to mail, then select. Mail shows up in place of Finder or whatever, but no windows appear. Anyone else know how to get that to show?

March 19 2010 at 11:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jonathan Garro

Honestly, I am all for running a casual business, but dude, you're meeting with the Governor. Wear a tie.

March 19 2010 at 11:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jeff

I just saw an article about one country trying to implement a situation where if you are an organ donor yourself, you are moved to the top of the list when you need one. I think that is a pretty good idea.

March 19 2010 at 9:20 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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