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Did alternative medicine kill Steve Jobs?
‘While Jobs was trying alternative mumbo-jumbo, his tumour grew,’ says Harvard cancer researcher
A HARVARD cancer research student has claimed Steve Jobs’s decision to use alternative medicine before opting for conventional treatment led to an unnecessarily early death.
Writing a detailed account on the Q&A website Quora, Harvard Medical School cancer researcher Ramzi Amri says he has "the impression that [Jobs’s] disease course has been far from optimal".
He stresses that what he knows of Jobs’s case comes from secondary sources.
Amri has researched neuroendocrine tumours – the kind that killed Jobs – for 18 months. He writes: "Let me cut to the chase: Mr. Jobs allegedly chose to undergo all sorts of alternative treatment options before opting for conventional medicine… given the circumstances it seems sound to assume that Mr. Jobs' choice for alternative medicine could have led to an unnecessarily early death."
Amri explains that neuroendocrine tumours are a relatively mild form of cancer – and that if treated promptly and appropriately, patients won’t die from the cancer itself.
He says that Jobs waited as long as two years between being diagnosed and accepting conventional treatment.
Amri writes: "While Mr. Jobs was trying all sorts of alternative mumbo-jumbo I won't even bother to go through as their failure is now sadly irrefutably proven, his tumor grew, and grew, and grew... and then it somehow grew beyond control."
While Amri is undoubtedly qualified to comment on Jobs, the question of whether alternative medicine really killed Jobs is extremely debatable.
Fortune reported in 2008 that Jobs was diagnosed in October 2003 and had the surgery in July 2004. While this delay may have eventually proved fatal – it is nowhere near the two-year deferment on which Amri bases his assessment. ·
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I agree with the posted comments. The fact that Jobs lived longer than the current statistics would predict with this kind of cancer invalidates Amri's claim that alternative approaches are "mumbo jumbo." The fact is that all of us will die at some point. None of us gets out alive. Jobs' choice prolonged his life and the quality of his life so that he could maintain his mental focus without medications interfering with his creativity. He used his last years well so that his company could be secure for many years after his death. Side effects from standard chemo/radiation treatment would have killed him much sooner - probably from a stroke.
It seems to me that we wouldn't read Ramzi Amri's mumbo jumbo if the lead on his was "...the question of whether alternative medicine really killed Jobs is extremely debatable."
We really need to give our heads a shake. Consider seriously the gigantic network that would collapse, i.e., the medical system as we know it. with its scare tactics, with its compliancy techniques. Realize that happy stories are not fodder for editors who thrive on sensational death/death threats.
Alternative medicine can and does work to stop cancer and restore a person to good health. It's the way of the future and Steve Jobs was a wonderful man and we need to treat his loss with dignity and thanks for what he did while he was with us.
I find it ironic Steve Jobs died not while using alternative procedures, but conventional ones which are known to destroy your immune system. To many alternative practiioners, it was the conventional toxic immune-supressing drugs that caused his death. Alternative treatments are a more benign way of treating cancer and are increasingly being used by some of the most famous institutions. Mr. Amri seems destined for a successful career in an industry that is famous for making no progress, despite the billions spent, and loses most of its patients as the incidents of cancer continue to rise worldwide.
The proposition that Mr. jobs was incapable of evaluating expert opinion seems doubtful. If conventional medicine failed to convince him of its efficacity, we should all at least ponder.
RIP Steve Jobs..........and no matter what
Harvard Medical School cancer researcher Ramzi Amri says you made your own chcoice and I thought that was what we fight our wars for...........freedom of choice is a great thing.
Jobs lived longer than expected, something confirmed my many cancer experts. Still, it's a good way of getting on the Jobs bandwagon and getting your name out there. Self promotion based on nothing but speculation, from a student.