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Theranos Executive to Depart Amid Regulatory Probes

wsj.com

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Re: Theranos Executive to Depart Amid Regulatory Probes

#11

Post by jonknee »

markk wrote: post #10
pfarnsworth wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this what one deserves if one tries to peddle something that doesn't work to investors, and then gets hundreds of millions of dollars for it?

This is advocating revenge, and being pleased to see someone suffer. Imagine she had a breakdown due to stress and her life went off the rails - would you feel that was fair? How much would she have to suffer before you are satisfied?

She benefited greatly from a cult of personality on the way up and is now finding out it goes both ways. I myself don't feel bad for someone who enriched herself while peddling snake oil and knowingly giving junk test results to real patients. It is despicable.

Re: Theranos Executive to Depart Amid Regulatory Probes

#12

Post by jonknee »

markk wrote: post #9
Alupis wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You feel compassion for someone who knowingly attempted to peddle a medical product just shy of snake oil, only to have it blow up in their face? Their product was absurdly broken, and the results were essentially a coin flip (I believe the FDA said results were accurate around 50% of the time). They wanted real doctors and patients to base important medical decisions off of this...

There's never a good enough reason to withhold compassion. That's the whole point of it.

Yes there is, she was selling bogus blood tests! Who cares about her feelings when innocent people made actual medical decision based on her junk science? And really what is there to be compassionate about? That she will be less rich?

Re: Theranos Executive to Depart Amid Regulatory Probes

#13

Post by markk »

jonknee wrote: post #11
markk wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is advocating revenge, and being pleased to see someone suffer. Imagine she had a breakdown due to stress and her life went off the rails - would you feel that was fair? How much would she have to suffer before you are satisfied?

She benefited greatly from a cult of personality on the way up and is now finding out it goes both ways. I myself don't feel bad for someone who enriched herself while peddling snake oil and knowingly giving junk test results to real patients . It is despicable.

I hear you, and I also don't necessarily approve of her actions. However at a human level, this is simply a human in pain (assuming she is stressed). Bear in mind, she only benefited in cash, we don't know what her experience of her life is like.

Re: Theranos Executive to Depart Amid Regulatory Probes

#15

Post by markk »

jonknee wrote: post #12
markk wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's never a good enough reason to withhold compassion. That's the whole point of it.

Yes there is, she was selling bogus blood tests! Who cares about her feelings when innocent people made actual medical decision based on her junk science? And really what is there to be compassionate about? That she will be less rich?

We know that money is not a great thing to measure to ascertain happiness, so I feel her bank account is irrelevant. And compassion is not a finite resource.

Re: Theranos Executive to Depart Amid Regulatory Probes

#16

Post by ben_jones »

reviseddamage wrote: post #2

I can't imagine the stress that Holmes goes through on a constant basis. There is the usual startup founder stress, but this feels like another level.

Person from privileged background drops out of Stanford and raises hundreds of millions of dollars, in part due to family connections, to produce a fundamentally unsound blood testing product. Person then proceeds to sell a broken blood testing product to consumers as a way of digging themselves out of their obligations to shareholders. Person then lies to regulators, instructs employees to lie to regulators, and witnesses one of their chief scientists commit suicide after, according to his wife, the scientist claimed "nothing was working".

I don't care about this person. I care about all the people hurt due to this person's actions. And I am greatly saddened by the high likelihood that this person will, despite the absolute carnage, profit tremendously from the situation.

Re: Theranos Executive to Depart Amid Regulatory Probes

#17

Post by jonknee »

markk wrote: post #13
jonknee wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She benefited greatly from a cult of personality on the way up and is now finding out it goes both ways. I myself don't feel bad for someone who enriched herself while peddling snake oil and knowingly giving junk test results to real patients . It is despicable.

I hear you, and I also don't necessarily approve of her actions. However at a human level, this is simply a human in pain (assuming she is stressed). Bear in mind, she only benefited in cash, we don't know what her experience of her life is like.

I feel much worse for all the people she hurt (investors, employees, patients, partners, etc). I'm sure Kenneth Lay was in pain too, but I didn't feel bad for him either.

Re: Theranos Executive to Depart Amid Regulatory Probes

#18

Post by zootam »

reviseddamage wrote: post #2

I can't imagine the stress that Holmes goes through on a constant basis. There is the usual startup founder stress, but this feels like another level.

yea, fraudulent and illegal activities generally up the stress level of anyone

she definitely deserves every bit of it.

Re: Theranos Executive to Depart Amid Regulatory Probes

#19

Post by dnautics »

markk wrote: post #10
pfarnsworth wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this what one deserves if one tries to peddle something that doesn't work to investors, and then gets hundreds of millions of dollars for it?

This is advocating revenge, and being pleased to see someone suffer. Imagine she had a breakdown due to stress and her life went off the rails - would you feel that was fair? How much would she have to suffer before you are satisfied?

revenge is a second action that is a constructed response to a first action. You would not call a swarm of bees attacking a person who knocked down the hive, "revenge".

Of course there is a subjective line here, but the things that have happened so far seem to be organic, natural, and maybe even predictable responses to the actions that that preceded. That's not revenge, that's just desserts.

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