Steve Jobs gets new liver, but at who’s cost?

Steve Jobs, the co-founder of technology giant Apple, was on Wednesday given an ''excellent prognosis'' by doctors at Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in Memphis after a liver transplant.

In a statement, James Eason, chief of transplantation, said Jobs had been at the end stage of  the liver disease but was now recovering well after the procedure.

It raises the prospect of Apple's co-founder and chief executive returning to work, possibly as soon as the end of June. Several observers spotted him leaving the Apple office on Monday, but the company refused to comment on this.

Apart from speculation about his official return to the job, Job's highly secretive treatment has raised considerable controversy. There is much talk that he received an out-of-turn liver using his wealth and position, particularly since the hospital at first denied that he was a patient at all.

The hospital statement on Wednesday, released with Jobs's permission, does not disclose when the transplant took place, but it has been known since Friday that he received the new liver two months ago.

Eason said, ''He received a liver transplant because he was the patient with the highest MELD score (model for end-stage liver disease) of his blood type, and therefore the sickest patient on the waiting list at the time a donor organ became available."