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Theranos Is Subject of Criminal Probe by U.S

wsj.com

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Re: Theranos Is Subject of Criminal Probe by U.S

#211

Post by JBReefer »

dv_dt wrote: post #71
jonknee wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The one drop tech is the only reason Theranos was ever talked about. We already have equipment that works very well with larger samples.

You're right, I guess there is the small matter of how much more than a drop is needed. If it's 3 drops, that's much better then 3 vials they they sometimes have to draw for covering a range of tests - but it sounds like it might be much larger then a few drops.

Even three drops is much more than one drop, if you're pricking my fingers a bunch of times, I'd rather you just did a traditional draw, it won't hurt when I type later.

Re: Theranos Is Subject of Criminal Probe by U.S

#212

Post by dsugarman »

blakeross wrote: post #78
mrdmnd wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just read a 32 page script and now I want you to write major television shows. Is that your actual job? This is really good.

Thank you! Currently it's a hobby; my background is in tech. This is the second script I've written. The first was a fake premiere for S3 of Silicon Valley ( http://bit.ly/1LOZZpT ).

I read this when you first wrote it, you have serious talent and hope you get one of your scripts into production one day.

Re: Theranos Is Subject of Criminal Probe by U.S

#213

Post by isleyaardvark »

zzz157 wrote: post #89
toomuchtodo wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Someone out there needs to attack healthcare. All the attacking that needs to be done is political/social, not technical. Want to attack healthcare? Strip middlemen out so that the money flows to providers and researchers (Single payer + pouring additional money into the NIH/NSF, with the results being public domain). All of these YC startups I see "hacking" healthcare (Dr Chrono, HealthSherpa, etc) are just bandai…

Single Payer would be great if you can trust the uh, payer. But our government is delightfully corrupt, so I'm sure a lot of people with more rare medical conditions would end up with worse treatment than they can get now.

Have you considered that maybe the reason we don't have single payer when so many other countries do is precisely because our government is corrupt?

Re: Theranos Is Subject of Criminal Probe by U.S

#214

Post by Grishnakh »

inglondon wrote: post #196
Grishnakh wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on the type of cancer. For instance, a surprisingly large portion of the population likely has thyroid cancer and doesn't know it, and many have it and it isn't treated. It's a very slow-growing cancer usually, and just not worth bothering with until the tumor gets large enough to cause real problems due to its size (then they usually just cut out part of your thyroid, leaving the other part to continue wo…

Just last week, thyroid tumors were reclassified and are no longer considered cancer. [ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/15/health/thyroid-tumor-cance... ] From the article 'Instead of calling it “encapsulated follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma,” they now call it “noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features,” or NIFTP. The word “carcinoma” is gone.'.

Great link, thanks. This affects me directly: I had one of these thyroid nodules found recently, but they've decided it's small and nothing to worry much about, so they're just going to keep an eye on it.

From your link: "At major medical centers, many patients with encapsulated thyroid tumors are already being treated less aggressively. But, thyroid experts say, that is not the norm in the rest of the country and the rest of the world."

I guess it's a good thing I was sent to a major medical center (one large enough where my oncologist specializes only in thyroids) or else I might be getting part of my thyroid cut out for no good reason now....

Re: Theranos Is Subject of Criminal Probe by U.S

#215

Post by FireBeyond »

vonklaus wrote: post #204
ben_jones wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it possible both of you are right?

> Is it possible both of [them] are right? Absolutely. However, they give 0 attribution to their baseless assertions. I follow Theranos enough where neither of these statements are so obviously common knowledge that they don't need to reference something at least in passing. Mostly, I am curious how this ended up happening.

Attribution: http://www.fiercemedicaldevices.com/story/theranos-asked-mil...

"But things didn't shake out that way. A military regulatory expert contacted the FDA with concerns about Theranos' technology without telling the company first, stalling the project and prompting Holmes to reach out to Mattis for help.

"I would very much appreciate your help in getting this information corrected with the regulatory agencies," Holmes wrote in an email to Mattis, saying that since the "misinformation came from within DOD, it would be "invaluable" to have the information "formally corrected by the right people in the DOD."

Re: Theranos Is Subject of Criminal Probe by U.S

#216

Post by askafriend »

pen2l wrote: post #210
askafriend wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This dude co-created Firefox and was director of product at FB for a while...definitely not a screenwriting background but smart man nonetheless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake_Ross

Wow, and he did it all before the age of 30. I feel like a loser.

Nah, don't worry about it. If you read his bio it says that he started when he was 10yrs old creating websites and then interned at Netscape at age 14. He started quite young and it's obvious that his value systems at that age were quite different from most people.

I however, would not have given up my childhood for any amount of success or achievement. That stuff could have waited. I'm not even the least bit jealous of him because it's clear that him and I had different value systems. I had so much fun trading pokemon cards with my friends and running around in the neighborhood park. Screw going to Stanford at 15.

I do want to make it very very clear that this is not a criticism of Blake. I have tremendous respect for his accomplishments and his hilarious screenwriting. I just wanted to point out that it's not all roses and that people can frame these achievements in the context of different value systems.

Re: Theranos Is Subject of Criminal Probe by U.S

#217

Post by radnam »

Animats wrote: post #31

Theranos isn't even at the leading edge of blood testing. There are now hand-held FDA-approved immediate blood testing devices.[1][2][3] Most of these require smaller amounts of blood than a remote lab, although more than a drop. Theranos is still in the send-it-to-the-lab-and-wait era. Even if Theranos' technology eventually works, it may be obsolete before it ships. [1] https://www.abbottpointofcare.com/products-se…

I wonder how these devices address the question raised in this study [1]. Also, can you perform all tests (e.g., metabolic panel) on these devices ?

[1] http://ajcp.oxfordjournals.org/content/144/6/885.abstract

Re: Theranos Is Subject of Criminal Probe by U.S

#218

Post by Mz »

mikekchar wrote: post #142
wpietri wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point. For me it's not exactly schadenfreude. I'm ok with hype that turns out to be justified. And I'm mostly resigned to people who go wrong through an excess of enthusiasm and naivete. But when unjustified hype shades into negligence or fraud, I take a rich pleasure in seeing people get their comeuppance. It's not schadenfreude precisely, but more about seeing justice done, about seeing karma fulfilled.

I don't speak German, but I don't know if it ceases being schadenfreude just because you feel that the bad thing that happens is justified. Indeed, the Wikipedia page on the word freely mixes those kinds of examples in their page. I'm not trying to be confrontational here, but recently I've been having a fairly negative reaction to the happy feelings that occur when justice is served. Sometimes I think this fuels a s…

The OP also discussed the feeling of satisfaction that their world view is justified when someone gets punished.

If you mean me, I feel like this puts words in my mouth, words that I do not agree with. I am not a vindictive person. I am not taking glee in people being punished per se. But I have made my peace with the fact that when people pursue a bad path long enough, at some point, it is likely to get push back. It no longer bothers me that the pushback may involve what you are terming punishment.

But, so far, what I am hearing is that Holmes is being banned from a thing, not thrown in jail. She may find that painful, but I don't think telling her "We expect you to stop this shit that is potentially harmful to other people." is actually punishment. It is merely protecting other people.

If she cannot behave responsibly enough to provide a genuine service while getting rich, she has no God given right to do whatever the fuck she pleases.

To my mind, this is in the vein of "Your right to swing your fist ends where my face begins." If you or Ms. Holmes thinks that is a painful and excessive restriction, well, too bad, so fucking sad. It isn't being done to hurt the woman. It is being done to stop her from hurting others.

Re: Theranos Is Subject of Criminal Probe by U.S

#219

Post by Mz »

SilasX wrote: post #122
Mz wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe some folks feel relieved to have their mental models for actual reality validated. Folks who thought it smelled like vaporware at best, or BS at worst, may not be engaging in schadenfreude so much as "Ha! I knew it! I'm not crazy!" It is possible to have not ugly reasons for finding satisfaction in seeing how this is turning out.

Sufficiently advanced satisfaction at vindication of your worldmodel due to misfortune is indistinguishable from schafenfreude.

People lying and evading the law is hardly "misfortune." This company looks like it was bungled from the start. I have, so far, refrained from spouting off on my blog about it, but, as a woman, I am personally offended at this hype fest.

All this cult of personality shit that swirled around this pretty young college drop out who was supposedly a billionaire by age 30 and now is looking like the queen of vaporware is just a huge fucking set back for women who want real careers.

If all you want out of life is to be cooed at for being a media darling, go to fucking Hollywood. Stay the hell out of the business world.

Re: Theranos Is Subject of Criminal Probe by U.S

#220

Post by anigbrowl »

return0 wrote: post #186
hackaflocka wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Did Holmes say that?

There is a number of things from her past interviews ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwKs-eoPM-Y ) that leave a lot of questions. For example she says that she sleeps for 4 hours , and that she 's a big fan of the 10000 hours rule, and a bunch of stuff for how she really is committed to what she does, but very little on why she believes she can pull it through. For comparison, another female health entrepreneur, Wo…

Hey now I like turtlenecks, even if she was going for a 'Steve Jobs, only pretty' image.
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