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Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems

wsj.com

21–30 of 70 posts

Re: Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems

#21

The key takeway I have from all this is if you are relying on Blood Tests for data that is critical to your health (as opposed to informative, educational, or personal interests) - it's probably a good idea, if you can afford it, to get results from three completely separate diagnostic systems - kind of like time with ntpd.

Not practical for most patients in the real world. Insurers won't pay for redundant lab tests. Getting blood drawn multiple times is painful and logistically difficult. For patients with clotting problems just getting blood drawn presents some risk. And there often won't be 3 independent labs in the patient's area.

Re: Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems

#22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ever wondered what the "web" link was for? It Googles the link title. Accessing via Google gets around the paywall. I agree that this post is ethically dubious, but at the same time we actively bypass the paywall anyway.

The Google workaround no longer works for the WSJ.

I'd be very curious to know if it actually increased WSJ subscriber revenue? Because I doubt it decreased their hosting bill.

Re: Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think we want to be a community that shares content like this.

Ever wondered what the "web" link was for? It Googles the link title. Accessing via Google gets around the paywall. I agree that this post is ethically dubious, but at the same time we actively bypass the paywall anyway.

The actual purpose of the web link is to check if an article is original.

Re: Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ever wondered what the "web" link was for? It Googles the link title. Accessing via Google gets around the paywall. I agree that this post is ethically dubious, but at the same time we actively bypass the paywall anyway.

The Google workaround no longer works for the WSJ.

Huh. Could have sworn it worked, I honestly tested it.

Whatever, the same news is available elsewhere anyway. The Web button does that too.

Re: Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems

#25

The key takeway I have from all this is if you are relying on Blood Tests for data that is critical to your health (as opposed to informative, educational, or personal interests) - it's probably a good idea, if you can afford it, to get results from three completely separate diagnostic systems - kind of like time with ntpd.

If you're taking Warfarin, you have to get your INR checked every two to three weeks. It's really not practical to do that at three different labs every time. Also, this isn't some exotic edge case that only applies to a few people, but an extremely common medication. We're talking about huge numbers of patients here. If all their tests had to be triple-checked, the costs would be enormous.

Re: Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems

#26

I've never seen so much scrutiny over a company before. Everyone is screaming "death to Theranos" at every opportunity. How much of that is purely balking over the high valuation? I have a feeling if they didn't raise so much money then journalists wouldn't be swarming this at all. All of the critiques I see don't seem even close to show stoppers. No public peer reviewed studies? Some lab updates to match FDA regulat…

As the other comments have stated - this isn't about valuation. This is a medical company that can, and probably has already, endangered patients' lives through its failings.

There is a reason why certain industries are scrutinized so closely because of the effect they can have on people. Being in those industries, even as a startup, means you must follow the rules.

Or are you fine with your doctor using some "unauthorized" random equipment the next time you need critical tests or surgery?

Re: Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems

#27

I've never seen so much scrutiny over a company before. Everyone is screaming "death to Theranos" at every opportunity. How much of that is purely balking over the high valuation? I have a feeling if they didn't raise so much money then journalists wouldn't be swarming this at all. All of the critiques I see don't seem even close to show stoppers. No public peer reviewed studies? Some lab updates to match FDA regulat…

They've literally recklessly endangered human lives. This isn't a game.

Re: Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ever wondered what the "web" link was for? It Googles the link title. Accessing via Google gets around the paywall. I agree that this post is ethically dubious, but at the same time we actively bypass the paywall anyway.

The Google workaround no longer works for the WSJ.

Worked for me just now.

Re: Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ever wondered what the "web" link was for? It Googles the link title. Accessing via Google gets around the paywall. I agree that this post is ethically dubious, but at the same time we actively bypass the paywall anyway.

The Google workaround no longer works for the WSJ.

It still works if you use some plugins to set the user agent to Googlebot and other things to trick the WSJ into thinking you are from Google.

Sometimes searching the title in Google works, sometimes it does not.

I'm really against paywalls because it is discrimination against the poor. It is like having a pay bathroom.

Re: Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems

#30
post #21

The key takeway I have from all this is if you are relying on Blood Tests for data that is critical to your health (as opposed to informative, educational, or personal interests) - it's probably a good idea, if you can afford it, to get results from three completely separate diagnostic systems - kind of like time with ntpd.

Not practical for most patients in the real world. Insurers won't pay for redundant lab tests. Getting blood drawn multiple times is painful and logistically difficult. For patients with clotting problems just getting blood drawn presents some risk. And there often won't be 3 independent labs in the patient's area.

You could reduce your accuracy by doing three tests of the same blood sample (of course, exposing yourself to the risk that the blood was taken incorrectly, was stored in an incorrect vessel, was transported incorrectly, etc...).

In terms of practicality/Insurance - this would mostly be a function of how absolutely certain we are that the tests are accurate, and how damaging incorrect results would be. If we are 99.99% certain the values are correct, and incorrectly results wouldn't result in irreparable harm - then yes, not worth the investment in redundant lab tests.

But, if there is, say, a 5% chance I might die on an incorrect test result that has a 1% chance of happening - and that test is performed 12 times/year - then you can pretty quickly calculate the net-present-value of my life versus cost of test. (I.E. If I think my Life is worth $10mm, and the test normally costs $500 each time, or $6000/year, and I need to have this test done for the next 10 years, (assuming the value of my life doesn't drop over time, to make this simpler) - then each time I get the test there is a 1% chance of failure * 5% chance of death = 0.05% chance of dying as a result of each test.

The odds of me dying then, in the next 120 test = 100%-(chance-of-not-dying-120-times-in-a-row) = 1-.9995 ^ 120) = 5.825% chance of dying in this scenario using tests that cost $60,000. If I could reduce that to 1% (4.825% reduction) chance by spending an extra $120,000 (perform the test in two extra labs) - then my my investment of $120k would return 4.825%*10mm = $482,500.

You can work the numbers, assumptions, etc.. however appropriate - but for some combination of test costs, frequency, potential harm, and value assigned to life - there is quantifiable value that justifies performing the test multiple times (and, likewise, clearly circumstances in which, even if the test results are more likely to be inaccurate, not worth performing thee test).

Not having access to multiple labs is a real problem though.

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