Jobs explained that last year in California there were 671 liver transplants and 3,400 people who needed new livers — 400 of whom died before they could get one. "I was almost one of the ones that died waiting for a liver in California last year," he told a group gathered at Stanford's Lucille Packard Children's Hospital.
The bill Jobs supports — SB 1395 — would require that the California motor vehicles department ask drivers applying for or renewing a license whether they want to become an organ donor. Today, Jobs said, "Nobody's going to ask you. Nobody's going to give you this opportunity."
In his remarks, Schwarzenegger said Jobs was instrumental in securing the governor's official support. "Steve Jobs told my wife about his transplant and she talked to me. Then we had great phone conversations back and forth. … He knew that others don't have a plane waiting for them to get to a transplant."
