--- title: CNN: Steve Jobs Was a Difficult Patient description: Former Apple chief Steve Jobs was notoriously difficult, not least as a cancer patient, it turns out. 7140128 canonical: https://time.com/archive/7140128/cnn-steve-jobs-was-a-difficult-patient/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2011-10-25T19:58:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-16T10:44:49.232Z article:section: Health og:title: CNN: Steve Jobs Was a Difficult Patient og:description: Former Apple chief Steve Jobs was notoriously difficult, not least as a cancer patient, it turns out. 7140128 og:url: https://time.com/archive/7140128/cnn-steve-jobs-was-a-difficult-patient/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbeada341b74f079/698a940f0116820d2d98bf1c/steve-jobs-isaacson.jpg?branch=production&width=307&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 307 og:image:height: 173 og:image:alt: steve jobs isaacson og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: CNN: Steve Jobs Was a Difficult Patient twitter:description: Former Apple chief Steve Jobs was notoriously difficult, not least as a cancer patient, it turns out. 7140128 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbeada341b74f079/698a940f0116820d2d98bf1c/steve-jobs-isaacson.jpg?branch=production&width=307&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) # CNN: Steve Jobs Was a Difficult Patient > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=edec8c32-0d4b-4c79-a4f0-339c09b6be94&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Oct 25, 2011 7:58 PM UTC  Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Oct 25, 2011 7:58 PM UTC Former Apple chief Steve Jobs was notoriously difficult, not least as a cancer patient, it turns out.more After discovering in October 2003 that he had a pancreatic tumor, he put off the surgery that doctors recommended to see if a “few other things would work,” Jobs told his biographer Walter Isaacson (TIME’s former managing editor) — “other things” like a vegan diet, acupuncture, herbal remedies and other alternative therapies, even psychic consultation. Jobs relented to surgery in July 2004, but afterward, refused to adhere to recommended care when it came to his diet. Offering fascinating excerpts of Isaacson’s book, CNN’s Elizabeth Landau [notes](http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/25/steve-jobs-a-difficult-patient/) that Jobs had unconventional, obsessive eating habits — he routinely fasted or ate extremely restrictive diets, sometimes refusing to eat at all — which he maintained, despite that fact that the “standard of care \[for pancreatic surgery patients\] is to have frequent meals and a diet with a variety of proteins from meats, fish and milk,” Landau reports. Jobs’ disordered eating contributed to his striking 40-lb. weight loss in the spring of 2008 as the cancer spread from his pancreas to his liver. In 2009, he had a liver transplant, but by that time, doctors thought, the cancer had likely spread to other parts of his body. Landau [reports](http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/25/steve-jobs-a-difficult-patient/): --- > “” --- By Christmas 2010, Jobs was down to 115 lbs. and still eating unconventionally or refusing to eat. “Cancer curbs appetite, but Isaacson suggests Jobs had a deeper complication from his psychological attitude toward food,” Landau writes. 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