Elizabeth Holmes, CEO of Theranos, finally charged

[Anonymous]

She needs to get a nice long sentence.

[Anonymous]

Interesting story. She did the same as many without any real talent or intelligence do and simply became a grifter. I feel bad for her family for having someone as vile as her in their flock. But then again she had to learn to lose her morality from somewhere.

[Anonymous]

I finally heard her actual voice, or at least the one she put on. She scary. That plus her eyes...creepy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a research biologist who so wanted her technology to work, it could have revolutionized medical care and jump-started so much research.

I told my husband one day, who has a lot more experience with clinical research than I do - he took one look at the original New Yorker article that explained her start-up in detail, snorted his coffee out of his nose, and told me there was no way in hell it would ever work.

I got so mad. We had an argument about it.

And now look who's right. Grr. I hate it when he's right

Ask him why so many people were fooled - including the actual scientists she had working for her company. Or did they just not care?

They wanted to get rich.

One of them committed sucide instead of testifying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what’s the deal

Was she a con artist from the start, or just delusional and got in over head?

She absolutely got in over her head. Her product worked on a very basic level for a small number of tests. I think the guy she hooked up with to be her CEO started in with the grand claims. The company was able to sign huge contracts with big names like Walgreens based on the greatly inflated claims.

No. It was a total fraud from the beginning. How she got Walgreens to sign out without any diligence is shocking. My spouse works in a related area and we discussed her company a long time ago. He was like, none of it makes sense. I do not understand why anyone would invest in this. It is not possible. And then a few years went by and the whole thing blew up and I now understand why he is good at his job! It took him 5 minutes to determine her business was BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Love the npr podcast series on her: “The Dropout”

I loved this too; a really great listen. (It was ABC rather than NPR though.)

Highly recommend The Dropout to anyone interested in the story. I thought it much better than the HBO doc .

Read Bad Blood instead. Greater depth.

She should be in jail. For a long time. She isn’t just a fraud, she put people’s lives at risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a research biologist who so wanted her technology to work, it could have revolutionized medical care and jump-started so much research.

I told my husband one day, who has a lot more experience with clinical research than I do - he took one look at the original New Yorker article that explained her start-up in detail, snorted his coffee out of his nose, and told me there was no way in hell it would ever work.

I got so mad. We had an argument about it.

And now look who's right. Grr. I hate it when he's right

His analysis involved use of his brain and yours involved use of your feelings. Think about that as you approach things going forward. It will help you both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Love the npr podcast series on her: “The Dropout”

I loved this too; a really great listen. (It was ABC rather than NPR though.)

Highly recommend The Dropout to anyone interested in the story. I thought it much better than the HBO doc .

Read Bad Blood instead. Greater depth.

She should be in jail. For a long time. She isn’t just a fraud, she put people’s lives at risk.

Do both! The book is brilliant, but the podcast gives you a richer understanding of several elements of the story. Plus it features her ridiculous voice, which you need to head to get just how nutty this woman is.

[Anonymous]

It never seemed to me like the whole blood drop thing, specifically its premise (like her fear of needles), was that earth shaking. My son, who is being evaluated for likely MS, just had 20 tubes drawn a week ago at one go. The needle stick went fine so one jab was enough. But the thing is, blood draw or no, he also had 5 days of steroid infusions, IV catheter stayed in place the first 3 days, then on day 4 they had to re-insert and tried multiple veins before given up and doing the inside elbow, which they won't leave in, so another stick the next day.

If you have anything significant going on medically, there can be a LOT of needles (he was also scheduled for an EMG which looked nasty but the neuro said pointless with what they already know, but he has a spinal tap coming up this month) and unpleasantness. Try a picc line, a port for chemo or dialysis, a colonostomy or ileostomy, a gastric tube for bowel obstruction. These are just a sampling of things my close extended and immediate family members have dealt with in recent memory.

Personally? I detest finger sticks. They HURT. Give me the inside of the elbow any day. Fewer nerves to feel the pain.

Wonder how she's going to feel about an epidural?

[Anonymous]

I am fascinated with this story, too, and hope she gets a nice long sentence for it. Agree that it’s esp awful how the grandfather-investor sided with HER rather than his own GRANDSON. Because of money. It’s so sad. Her voice, her eyes- super creepy. She’s a sociopath? Or just an incredibly privileged white woman who has figured out how to snooker old rich white men into thinking she’s all that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would anyone believe that someone with two years of undergraduate classes would be qualified to do what she claimed she could do? They thought she was Zuckerberg, as if computerized medical analysis is the same as some dumb website. It simply didn't work, and they wouldn't let anyone in to verify their results. How did that not raise a thousand red flags?!

I get what you’re saying but Zuckerberg has never created anything . Facebook was never his idea

An idea is nothing until someone creates a real thing out of it.

[Anonymous]

I never get why DCUM takes pleasure in these terrible stories.

[Anonymous]

If you read her life history, this is a huge potential downfall of telling high school kids that they have to 'cure cancer' to get into top schools. They and everyone around them over inflates their abilities and achievements to get into "the best" schools, and in her case it looks like she followed the lie to the the point of dropping out of Stanford (who needs an education when everyone believes you are already awesome?) to continue to profit from the overinflated belief in her own achievements. High schools need to instill a little Socratic academic humility in these kids.

And her dad worked for Enron.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never get why DCUM takes pleasure in these terrible stories.

Weird take, PP. This story is fascinating to a tremendous number of people, as evidenced by the very successful book and podcast. What’s your beef with our interest in it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It never seemed to me like the whole blood drop thing, specifically its premise (like her fear of needles), was that earth shaking. My son, who is being evaluated for likely MS, just had 20 tubes drawn a week ago at one go. The needle stick went fine so one jab was enough. But the thing is, blood draw or no, he also had 5 days of steroid infusions, IV catheter stayed in place the first 3 days, then on day 4 they had to re-insert and tried multiple veins before given up and doing the inside elbow, which they won't leave in, so another stick the next day.

If you have anything significant going on medically, there can be a LOT of needles (he was also scheduled for an EMG which looked nasty but the neuro said pointless with what they already know, but he has a spinal tap coming up this month) and unpleasantness. Try a picc line, a port for chemo or dialysis, a colonostomy or ileostomy, a gastric tube for bowel obstruction. These are just a sampling of things my close extended and immediate family members have dealt with in recent memory.

Personally? I detest finger sticks. They HURT. Give me the inside of the elbow any day. Fewer nerves to feel the pain.

Wonder how she's going to feel about an epidural?

there were several parts to her story and i think she could have been successful without the finger prick nonsense. we need faster, cooler more accessible labs that won't require doctors' slip and where you will get results email to you as soon as it is done. many countries abroad have that. that alone would have been huge.