The Dropout on Hulu (Elizabeth Holmes story)
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Anonymous
Brother went to Duke. |
Anonymous
| Correction, the Holmes children went to great schools because their parents had money. |
Anonymous
| I really enjoyed this weeks episode |
Anonymous
I did too. I wonder how much was real regarding the lab folks, the neighbor, and the Stanford professor. Seeing this makes it so unbelievable she was only convicted of 4 charges. |
Anonymous
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Crazy Reddit post from the early 2010s by a Theranos employee:
https://www.reddit.com/r/jobs/comments/rtgcl/i_have_a_highpaying_job_in_an_organization_based/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Theranos/comments/rmlfci/10_year_old_post_on_rjobs_clearly_from_a_theranos/ The post from 9 years ago: I have a high-paying job in an organization based on lies and fear. Is this normal? A-hoy-hoy, r/jobs! This is largely a rant - I'm frustrated to the point of crying because I just can't understand why this is all okay. I'm deeply distraught about my current job situation, and I would like to know whether this is just the reality of working in industry, or whether I should get my ass out of this particular job. I work at a biotech company developing a platform for diagnostic assays - vague, I know, but I definitely can't be specific. My job entails developing assay chemistries to be used on this platform. It's similar to academic research, but much faster-paced because it tends to be based on pre-existing formulations. My team is under a ton of pressure from the CEOs to churn out developed chemistries as fast as possible. There are a good number of criteria and design constraints that must be met for each of them (%CVs must be below X, variability must be less than such-and-such under such-and-such conditions, etc), but they're not so stringent that I would say they're ready for validation. I'm completely new to industry and chemistry is not my strong suit, so I tend to be partnered with other chemists and we meet with my boss and our team adviser together to discuss results and direction for each project. I have come to understand that in these meetings, it is recommended to be extremely selective about what you tell the bossmen. As in, ignoring the bulk of the evidence we've gathered that suggests that the formulation is not working, and instead present the one graph that looks okay and tell them that everything's passing with flying colors. I have to look them in the eye when my partner says these things and smile and nod. Once the lie is in place, I then have to back it up with data that is simply unattainable and I get shit from my boss for it. At this point my boss has lied to the CEOs about the degree of progress made on the project, so now HE'S under pressure to get results out of me. This is apparently common practice for everyone here. We all lie to each others' faces about the "science" so that we look better in the short term (it's not science if you're ignoring the data you don't want to see), when in reality we're building a non-functional product. The CEOs reward those who tell them exactly what they want to hear, and punish (fire) those who bring them problems and suggestions for improvement. Even supervisors who try to repair the system by holding their employees accountable for their data and give honest information to the CEOs - they do not last long here. Everything is image-driven because we're all aware we could be fired for not being optimistic enough. I can think of two people in this entire company who care about the truth behind their work. I firmly believe this system is going to drive the company into the ground, because the CEOs are training everyone to lie to them. When they try to implement this product, it's going to fall apart because there's just no accountability. I can't stand it. I've stayed in this job about 6 months now because it pays very well, but I'm running out of steam. I hate chemistry (my degree is in bioengineering), and I hate this company. I left at noon today because I couldn't keep myself from crying. Seriously. I hate lying to people and I hate discrediting myself by pretending I'm okay with it. I'm afraid of speaking out. This entire organization is hollow and fear-based. Is this how all industry jobs are? If so, I will be looking for a change in careers. Science should be about seeing reality and using it to make informed decisions and inventions, not about warping it to promote yourself. TL;DR: The company I work for rewards those who lie and fires those who are honest. Is this normal? Should I leave? I will be quitting as soon as I have another job lined up. Edit: Thanks, guys. This is my first job, and I was seriously afraid that this was what companies are like everywhere. I value myself much more than I value these peoples' approval. I've already submitted resumes to 4 companies in my area since lunch, and I will continue to search until I find an employer who takes their product and their employees seriously. When that happens, I will very much enjoy saying goodbye to this place. |
Anonymous
The neighbor character is, I believe, completely fabricated/composited for convenience. The professor is real. The lab folks are real including the guy who killed himself and the grandson of Schultz and the young girl who came forward who was on her economic knees and was harassed by Theranos. |
Anonymous
No, he’s real and the patent lawsuit is real. What’s inaccurate is it wasn’t he who contacted Careyrou. |
Anonymous
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The neighbor is real. The patent is real. And the neighbor was a prime mover in getting a lot of people to talk to John Carreyrou. And there was also a guy who blogged about pathology for fun who read the New Yorker article and wrote about it and then was contacted by the neighbor. Arguably without the neighbor there might not have been any WSJ story to set the whole thing in motion.
https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/local/the-pathologist-and-the-inventor-how-a-columbia-doctor-helped-take-down-theranos/article_104c6ea6-4f95-11e9-9990-7f4968a10912.amp.html |
Anonymous
| Last night's episode was so funny. |
Anonymous
I did too. So unbelievable this is really a true story. Holmes was able to fool so many people. |
Anonymous
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The original pathology blog story from 2014.
https://archive.ph/BGtRJ |
Anonymous
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The blawg! Good find. |
Anonymous
| Great episode! You finally see her true evil!! |
Anonymous
| Loved that meeting at WSJ with the lawyers. John Carreyrou has balls of steel. |
Anonymous
The fishing analogy cracked me up. |