Add one more item to the advantages of owning a private jet, or having access to one. The New York Times points out that Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple, could have registered on several waiting lists for liver transplants around the US because he was able to fly on short notice to any city.
In practice, we do not know why Mr Jobs ended up having a liver transplant in Tennessee – or indeed why he had one at all, although it presumably relates to the bout of pancreatic cancer for which he had surgery in 2004. Nor do we know how he got to Tennessee from California.
Organs are allocated to sick patients on the basis of need but there turn out to be advantages to being able to fly around the US, or the world, at will:
It is even conceivable that someone could go to the time and expense of registering for the waiting lists of several transplant centers around the country.
“If you had access to a jet and had six hours to get anywhere in the country, you’d have a wide choice of programs,” said Dr. Michael Porayko, the medical director of liver transplants at Vanderbilt University, one of the Tennessee centers that has said it did not treat Mr. Jobs.
Mr Jobs appears to have recovered well enough to return to Apple a few days ahead of schedule. He has the successful launch of the iPhone 3GS to aid his convalescence.
