Theranos Founder Faces a Test of Technology, and Reputation • Hacker News Board

Re: Theranos Founder Faces a Test of Technology, and Reputation

#101

Post by malandrew » Sun, Dec 20, 2015, 9:31 PM UTC

malandrew wrote: post #77

laarc wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was hoping the product would pivot to passive blood pressure monitoring. I want my blood pressure to be recorded every few seconds, logged and cross-referenced against what I did, ate, and drank. For correlation purposes, knowing those things can be as simple as snapping a photo. Smart people apparently claim that blood pressure is one of the most reliable indicators of how long you'll live. If so, then it's always…

My mom is terminally ill and recently started experiencing orthostatic hypotension, so I just picked up an Omrom armband blood pressure monitor that is trivially easy to use and stores the last 100 measurements for two people. http://amzn.com/B00KPQB2SS It's still not what you want, but it looks like things are moving in the direction you suggest. That said, I'm wondering if it is even possible to do what you suggest…

I'm guessing I got downvoted for linking to the product on Amazon. What's the appropriate way to link to something like that so that it doesn't get downvoted?

Re: Theranos Founder Faces a Test of Technology, and Reputation

#102

Post by pbreit » Sun, Dec 20, 2015, 10:19 PM UTC

n0us wrote: post #7

The idea of rapid disruption in the healthcare industry makes me uncomfortable for some reason. I admire Holmes's ambition and in interviews I've watched she seems competent and well guided but something just doesn't seem to add up. How was a college dropout able to get a break in the healthcare sector? Becoming a doctor requires years of education and training and along comes this young woman who just decides "I'm g…

I hate the sentiment here in pretty much each of your paragraphs. I don't mind rapid disruption too much but Theranos is 10 years old so not sure where that comes in. College drop-outs: Gates, Jobs, Ellison, Zuckerberg, Branson, Dell, Ev, Kalanick, Koum. It's not uncommon for "outsiders" to be able to create breakthroughs that "insiders" never saw. You're completely missing what quick, cheap blood tests could enable. It could revolutionize all of medicine. Because grocery stores are convenient. Even if Theranos was proven effective? Take your head out of the sand.

Re: Theranos Founder Faces a Test of Technology, and Reputation

#103

Post by dikdik » Mon, Dec 21, 2015, 12:26 AM UTC

seehafer wrote: post #47

dikdik wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you look at CEO's and other higher ups of healthcare companies, a significant number have absolutely no science training.

For current public companies, you're right, because public company CEOs outside of recent tech cos are rarely founders. Healthcare founders almost always have either medical and/or science training.

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. There is a whole new crop of start-ups in the healthcare space with founders coming from Google and Facebook (ie Flatiron Health). I think this is great for bringing innovation to an industry that is hurting for it.

Re: Theranos Founder Faces a Test of Technology, and Reputation

#104

Post by nkurz » Mon, Dec 21, 2015, 5:17 AM UTC

malandrew wrote: post #101

malandrew wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My mom is terminally ill and recently started experiencing orthostatic hypotension, so I just picked up an Omrom armband blood pressure monitor that is trivially easy to use and stores the last 100 measurements for two people. http://amzn.com/B00KPQB2SS It's still not what you want, but it looks like things are moving in the direction you suggest. That said, I'm wondering if it is even possible to do what you suggest…

I'm guessing I got downvoted for linking to the product on Amazon. What's the appropriate way to link to something like that so that it doesn't get downvoted?

I think your comment was informative, your manner of linking was fine, and that you should ignore the downvote(s) in this case. I guess it might be slightly clearer to use the full "amazon.com" in the URL, and I suppose someone might argue that it's safer to indent it two spaces so it's plain text rather than an active link, but seems good to me as it is. Maybe someone clicked the wrong button, didn't like something else about your wording, or was just in a bad mood.

Re: Theranos Founder Faces a Test of Technology, and Reputation

#105

Post by laarc » Sat, Jan 02, 2016, 11:56 PM UTC

malandrew wrote: post #101

malandrew wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My mom is terminally ill and recently started experiencing orthostatic hypotension, so I just picked up an Omrom armband blood pressure monitor that is trivially easy to use and stores the last 100 measurements for two people. http://amzn.com/B00KPQB2SS It's still not what you want, but it looks like things are moving in the direction you suggest. That said, I'm wondering if it is even possible to do what you suggest…

I'm guessing I got downvoted for linking to the product on Amazon. What's the appropriate way to link to something like that so that it doesn't get downvoted?

You know, when I saw your original comment, it was so helpful that I wanted to respond to you and say thank you, but I suppressed my instincts because I thanked someone else, and it felt like the community would react badly to me saying "Thank you so much!" to every single person.

But now I see that the community actually downvoted your comment rather than rewarded it. Darn.

For what it's worth, and even though this reply is very late: Thank you so much for your time and for the thoughtful and helpful reply. The links, specifically, were the reason it was helpful to me.