Steve Jobs' Official Cause of Death Listed as Respiratory Arrest and Pancreatic Tumor

[millertime021]

RIP Steve.

Seems like the people close to him knew the end was near. Hopefully everyone close got to say their final goodbyes.

From the original article.

The company had notified the Palo Alto, California, police department a few days before his death that Jobs was expected to die. The police department sought to be made aware so it could have patrols ready in case large numbers of mourners gathered at Jobs’s home, Sandra Brown, a spokeswoman for the department, said last week.

 

[DonateDifferent]

A way we can all help fight the fight against the disease that took Steve Jobs

What a legend. He's so missed. I wonder: what awesome thing would Steve have come up with next if pancreatic cancer didn't exist?

If you want to do more, why not email Apple and ask them to support research into pancreatic cancer? If you care enough to click 'Send', check out: http://endpancreaticcancer.good.do/donate-different/email-apple/

Thanks, peace and hope.

 

[pbrooks]

My mother recently passed away from pancreatic cancer and about the only saving grace was that it was peaceful for her - she fell unconscious and passed away in her sleep 12 hours later. She had an incredibly aggressive form of cancer (she passed away only 3 weeks after being diagnosed) but I hope Steve had as peaceful a passing as is possible.

My father died of pancreatic cancer in 2003. It took 90 days from diagnosis to death. I hated watching what cancer did to my father. Seeing Steve in his last few months reminded me of this, and his death stirred up a lot of emotions left over from my fathers' passing.

 

[cvaldes]

Imagine if his wife gave a Billion to cancer research tomorrow. That would be one more thing.

And if she did, we'd never hear about it.

Laurene Powell Jobs is even more private than Steve was. She can do whatever she wants with the money, but the hell if she's going to tell us. We know that she is personally involved in a bunch of charitable organizations yet we know nothing about how much money she has sunk into any of them.

 

[SoGood]

Very sad to hear the cause of death being a respiratory complication. You have left much joy in this world though. Thank you!

 

[brewcitywi]

Miss him

I am going to miss him for a while.

I probably saw him as the underdog that Apple was, and the triumph of his creative ingenuity to what Apple became. I suppose he made me feel like a hero, too.

 

[DrDomVonDoom]

Maybe just me but not really something I cared to know. Call me old fashioned but some thing are better left unknown.

 

[blybug]

Very sad to hear the cause of death being a respiratory complication. You have left much joy in this world though. Thank you!

"Respiratory Arrest" literally means "stopped breathing." This is an oft-used term on death certificates in medicine when there is no particular single diagnosis on which to explain the death, as often is the case with a long term chronic condition that results in multi-organ failure...and ultimately the cessation of breathing.

Nothing new or very compelling to see here.

 

[guch20]

I am going to miss him for a while.

I probably saw him as the underdog that Apple was, and the triumph of his creative ingenuity to what Apple became. I suppose he made me feel like a hero, too.

I know what you mean about the underdog thing. I liked Apple products when I was a kid and got to use my uncle's Macintosh. But I had no clue who Steve Jobs was.

Fast forward to 1999 and the TNT movie "Pirates of Silicon Valley." Anyone who has seen that movie knows that it ended at the point where Steve got hired back at Apple and gave the keynote address with Bill Gates staring over his shoulder.

The movie left two distinct thoughts in my mind: One was that Jobs was a genius who got screwed over, and two was that I wished that he would climb back to the top and stick it in Bill Gates' face (I was a kid).

Fast forward again, and Steve Jobs did climb back to the top and beyond. He put Apple at the peak of business and reinvented the definition of CEO, while completely changing the world of movies, music, phones, communication, and tablet computers.

And now he's gone forever...

 

[remizart1]

4yrs of Steve innovation yet to be seen.... His brilliance IS eternal....RIP to our iCloud Eternal CEO :-(

 

[jca24]

R.I.P. Mr. Steve Jobs

God bless you, your wife and children.

Thank you for all of the great Apple products that have enriched our lives.

Thank you for all of the wonderful Pixar movies that we all love.

 

[ronwasserman]

Respiratory Arrest would come from a large amount of Morphine which Mr. Jobs would have needed in his final days. Large amounts of Morphine cause a person to stop breathing. It's a more humane way to pass rather than just letting the internal organs rot from cancer.

I've learned this from watching hospice care for many of my relatives.

 

[uspsjobs]

I am sad

I am really very sad. It is a big gape.

 

[jesses]

we need more minds like his in this world. Thank you stevebrah!

 

[Scarpad]

I lost my wife a year and a half ago to a rare form of cervical cancer she was only 45 years old, i know how she battled for the 2 years she fought the disease, I can only imagine Steve's 8 year ordeal. Anyone who fights the disease is more brave than I can ever hope of being.

 

[Will do good]

It's almost a week since Steve's passing and I still search for stories to read.

I'm proud to be a Steve fanboy.

 

[guch20]

It's almost a week since Steve's passing and I still search for stories to read.

I'm proud to be a Steve fanboy.

I still get teary if I read or watch certain things.

I can't wait for the biography. For as much as he knew us and what we wanted and what would connect us to the world, we knew surprisingly little about him. Of course, that's just how he wanted it, but he also wanted his biography written and read.

 

[nklsrnsm]

Respiratory distress

A lot of this information has been stated throughout the discussion post.

Respiratory arrest implies a medical emergency due to the cessation of breathing. It often coincides with cardiac arrest. I am a registered nurse and have worked in hospice (palliative) care for a lot of my career. Most people don't die from their primary diagnosis. The death certificates I usually co-sign on list pneumonia or respiratory failure on them as the direct cause of death. In this particular case, I assume that Steve Jobs had one of the best hospice companies (if not a physician directly caring for him) during his decline into death. During this time, patients are given an opiate, usually sublingual morphine or, if the healthcare provider has access, IV morphine. Although morphine is used in the treatment of severe pain, one of it's side effects include respiratory depression. Respiratory depression sounds scary, but during an active death process, it can greatly improve the quality of someone's life. Managing a person in the hospital is a whole different story than managing a person in their home. This combined with other basic cares can provide comfort while the patient's breaths are slowing and becoming shallow. They usually drift into an unconscious state while the morphine is being administered. To assure comfort, the medication is continued until the time of death. Palliative care is an interesting subject. If any of you get bored while waiting for your iPhones this week, research it. Psychologically, Mr. Jobs died due to lack of oxygen, but rest assured, he was comfortable when it happened.

Reference:
DiPiro, J. T. (2011). Pharmacotherapy: a pathophysiologic approaoach (8th ed.). USA: McGraw-Hill Medical.

Death is never easy. My heart goes out to everyone affected by the death of Steve Jobs.

 

[Shacklebolt]

I hope it was a comfortable and peaceful passing.

Rest in peace, Steve.

Imagine the feeling of being choked -- that's probably what it was like (on a lot of morphine, but still). I wish it were comfortable and peaceful, but it sounds like, if that were the case, it's only because of a lot of palliative care.

******* cancer +10000. The new killer t-cell treatment seems really promising, but getting that to work on solid tumors might be a long ways down the line.

RIP Steve.

 

[blackhand1001]

Imagine the feeling of being choked -- that's probably what it was like (on a lot of morphine, but still). I wish it were comfortable and peaceful, but it sounds like, if that were the case, it's only because of a lot of palliative care.

******* cancer +10000. The new killer t-cell treatment seems really promising, but getting that to work on solid tumors might be a long ways down the line.

RIP Steve.

Thats not how it is because he was not concious during this time.

 

[cvaldes]

In this particular case, I assume that Steve Jobs had one of the best hospice companies (if not a physician directly caring for him) during his decline into death.

Let's face it: Steve Jobs had the best care that Western medicine could provide.

If he needed healthcare benefits beyond that of whatever PPO plan he got from Apple, he could afford it. He likely flew to Tennessee for his liver transplant on his Gulfstream V on his own dime.

Imagine the feeling of being choked -- that's probably what it was like (on a lot of morphine, but still).

No.

It is likely that Steve was unconscious on the day of the iPhone announcement. Perhaps he had been lucid a week before, but the final stages of a cancer patient on a morphine drip are usually calm and peaceful. That's what the meds are for. They help make the final days and hours more bearable, both for the patient as well as loved ones looking on.

There are no curative benefits for a morphine drip to a terminal cancer patient. It's about mitigating the discomfort for those last days. It's the most humane conclusion to a cancer victim's life.

If there was a better way to go, Steve would have done it.

 

[guch20]

Let's face it: Steve Jobs had the best care that Western medicine could provide.

If he needed healthcare benefits beyond that of whatever PPO plan he got from Apple, he could afford it. He likely flew to Tennessee for his liver transplant on his Gulfstream V on his own dime.


No.

It is likely that Steve was unconscious on the day of the iPhone announcement. Perhaps he had been lucid a week before, but the final stages of a cancer patient on a morphine drip are usually calm and peaceful. That's what the meds are for. They help make the final days and hours more bearable, both for the patient as well as loved ones looking on.

There are no curative benefits for a morphine drip to a terminal cancer patient. It's about mitigating the discomfort for those last days. It's the most humane conclusion to a cancer victim's life.

If there was a better way to go, Steve would have done it.

So he probably laid there in his final days, weak and tired, drugged but aware of the fact he would be dead very soon? I know it's the best possible outcome for a terrible situation, but why did it have to be him?

Why do *******s like bin Laden or Jong Il live for what seems like forever, while people who truly matter to the entire human race have to die early and often with great suffering? It's just not right.

 

[akadmon]

My mother recently passeds away from pancreatic cancer and about the only saving grace was that it was peaceful for her - she fell unconscious and passed away in her sleep 12 hours later. She had an incredibly aggressive form of cancer (she passed away only 3 weeks after being diagnosed) but I hope Steve had as peaceful a passing as is possible.

My father succumbed to pancreatic cancer last December, and his death was anything but "peaceful"!!! Yes, he was semiconscious at best during his last hours, but he struggled for air something terrible. Very short, shallow, labored breaths. I held his hand during those hours, fell asleep from exhaustion (around 2 a.m.) for what must have been a fraction of minute. When I opened my eyes, his head was slumped lifeless on the pillow, with black liquid (bile, blood, stomach contents) literally pouring out of his mouth and nose (the tumor had utimatley obstructed his intestines). This was the exact moment of his death.


So there you have it, all you idealists and optimists: death isn't easy, and it is rarely "peaceful". Based on the COD here, I suspect Steve's wasn't.


Sent from my iPad

 

[cvaldes]

So he probably laid there in his final days, weak and tired, drugged but aware of the fact he would be dead very soon? I know it's the best possible outcome for a terrible situation, but why did it have to be him?

Why do *******s like bin Laden or Jong Il live for what seems like forever, while people who truly matter to the entire human race have to die early and often with great suffering? It's just not right.

If you believe your religion can explain this, and it can't, well you might want to reconsider what you believe in.

Of course, many of the world's religions have an "escape clause" that basically states that some things aren't meant to be understood by mortals.

Remember, Steve was a Buddhist and as such, judged himself differently than bin Laden or Jong Il and most likely you.

You will need to find your own answers, ones that fit into your spiritual belief system. It appears that you haven't find those answers yet, so keep looking.

 

[Simsonic]

Dear Steve

Dear Steve,
You have taught me so much about life.
1. Have a vision and a purpose.
2. Go after that vision and purpose.
3. Don’t be afraid of other people when they get in the way of your vision and purpose.
4. Work hard and long, and when that is not enough, work harder.
5. Confront people when appropriate. It makes magic happen.
6. Make sure that the work produced is beautiful.
7. Make sure that the work produced is functional.
8. Don’t be afraid to start over.
Your friend,
Sim