Steve Jobs took another medical leave of absence earlier this year with no estimated return date. The National Enquirer has now published some scary-looking photos of Steve, which depict him looking thinner and perhaps more ill than ever.
The Enquirer followed him from breakfast to the Stanford Cancer Center. It says he has to weeks to live, based on analysis of the photos by Dr Gabe Mirkin and Dr Samuel Jacobson. Neither are oncologists nor have seen Steve in person. Mirkin, a radio talk show host, claims he has a “20-year track record of spotting breakthroughs and recommending effective treatments long before they become standard medical care” and makes his assessment of Steve based on the appearance of Steve’s butt in the photos. Yes, this doctor is making a butt diagnosis, remotely.
The National Enquirer has been right about things before, like the John Edwards affair. And Jobs very likely was at the Stanford Cancer Center. But they’re also wrong a lot – especially when it comes to proclaiming that celebrities have mere weeks to live. (Patrick Swayze, God bless him, beat their gruesome prognosis by a year. Kirstie Alley and Oprah will both be dead in years by the Enquirer’s reckoning.) The photos are shocking, but nearly every magazine retouches photos.
And just a couple weeks ago, Steve was supposedly spotted on Apple campus looking spry with a “full, genuine smile”.
We hope that the Enquirer is wrong. And that’s what our gut tells us. But who knows. [National Enquirer]