Because he is the undead...
How do they discover a “small mass” on the liver of a 90 year old?
When "single payer" socialized medicine kicks in he would never make it past the death panels.
Correction. You or I would never make it past the death panels. The Important People will never have to wait in line with the little people.
It’s hard on a 90 year old to make a full recovery from any type of surgery in my opinion.
He probably had an abnormal blood test or had abdominal pain, got a CT scan and it showed an abnormality in the liver.
No surgeon would operate on a 90 y.o. guy to take out a benign, "small" tumor. The risk-benefit calculation is not in the right direction.
My opinion is that what was removed was most likely malignant, either a liver cancer (hepatoma) or spread from somewhere else (like a colon cancer, which tends to spread to the liver).
Blood work levels indicate a problem with the liver, and/or corresponding stool change.
MRI.
But they must have had a reason to be looking for something.