Theranos, were any of you victimized?

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A lot of the investors were associated with the conservative Hoover Institute at Stanford. There’s an unfortunate anti-science thread among some conservatives. This time, being anti-science cost them millions of bucks.

According to both the book and the podcast, investors who specialized in the scientific area Theranos was trying to disrupt didn’t invest, because they didn’t believe the scientific claims.

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James Corden takes on Elizabeth Holmes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBV7HRGM7ns

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I have followed Theranos since the Forbes cover story on Elizabeth Holmes to the book Bad Blood to the Podcast The Dropout. I feel only a bit sorry for the investors. Why? Because they failed to ask the deep questions and accepted EH’s endless excuses. I am, however, appalled at the lack of concern for the quality of the tests that were being performed on real patient samples. Elizabeth Holmes was playing with people’s lives. Shame on her!

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“I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around how many highly educated scientists/engineers worked at the company for years and didn’t understand or acknowledge that the technology never worked.”

I’m a scientist who works in this same field, and IMO the Theranos scientists involved probably fell into three main categories:

  1. Scientists and engineers who bought into the dream and it's promise and worked hard to turn it into reality. They almost certainly knew the technology wasn't working and were working hard to fix it. I'm guessing the bulk of the technical people at Theranos fell into this category. They either didn't know or perhaps in some cases were willfully blind to the questionable stuff going on with investors and customers ("That's not my department. I'm in R&D"). They just kept their heads down and kept working.
  2. Scientists and engineers who bought into the dream and it's promise, but after they got there and saw what a mess it was they confronted higher ups and were quickly frozen out and threatened with lawsuits if they spoke up publicly. All of these people either quit or were fired. Several of these are documented in Bad Blood.
  3. Scientists and engineers who bought into the dream and it's promise and were willing to lie, cheat, and risk harming patients in order to keep the dream alive. Or alternatively they were willing to lie and cheat in order to stay in Elizabeth Holmes's favor. They probably operated with the hope that the technology could be fixed in the future if only they could stall long enough. The technical people who rigged the fake product demos and the bogus Walgreens testing system fall into this category. Except for the fact that she's not a scientist or engineer, Elizabeth Holmes herself probably fell into this category. Every person in this category was dishonest and they knew it. I hope this was the smallest group. You can have a few bad eggs in any profession, but Science lives and dies by the honesty and ethics of the scientists involved and the integrity of the data they produce. So I really hope there weren't very many who sold their scientific souls in this way.

I can also see where perhaps a few scientists in category #1 could be frustrated and worn down over time and cross over into category #3. They should have crossed over into category #2.

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A recent Xconomy article tries to answer some questions brought up here:

https://xconomy.com/national/2019/06/24/review-inside-the-house-of-lies-at-theranos/

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The trial has been scheduled:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/28/tech/theranos-elizabeth-holmes-trial-date/index.html

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I know and knew a number of scientists who worked at Theranos. Many were not US citizens who needed green cards to get to stay here. They knew, yes, that the evidence was not marching up with the spin, but they didn’t how things worked here in the US and they had too much at stake to question management about the discrepancy. I’m wondering if any of them will be called upon to testify at the trial.

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In a related matter, two of the whistleblowers who helped expose Theranos are forming an ethics company.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/02/tech/theranos-whistleblowers-ethics-in-entrepreneurship/index.html

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Some updates:

https://news.yahoo.com/rise-fall-elizabeth-holmes-started-200700610.html

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Ok, so she has married an heir to a hotel empire who is 8 years younger than she is and who believes “unequivocally” in her innocence.

Sounds like she has manipulated yet another man, someone younger this time whom she can boss around.

Or maybe it’s just true love.

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I am glad it won’t be us taxpayers paying for her many attorneys, as surely her rich H will happily foot the bill. She sure must be amazingly charismatic. Yikes!

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I hope it is televised!

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I wonder if his “family money” might somehow be tied up so it can’t pay her legal fees. I’m sure his family hopes so!

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A living person has no heirs. Don’t know if the kid she married has already inherited some major $$ from deceased relatives, but the living ones, if smart enough, can make sure the money is not spent on her legal fees.

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So I’m guessing COVID will impact Elizabeth Holmes’ trial date. She’s probably one of the few human beings who feels at least some sense of relief about the current situation.

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Just think how good COVID would have been for her business! Even if they didn’t work, a zillion people would have given her blood tests a try…

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Referring to the title of the thread, I would say the medical diagnostics innovation was victimized by Theranos. We are playing catch-up game while dealing with Covid.

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For those of you still following this sordid tale of greed.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/10/tech/theranos-holmes-mental-disease/index.html

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Interesting. Only 14 hours of examination and it will be videotaped.

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Hmmm, sociopath and narcissistic, I guess that’s a mental disease