Well they certainly managed to "disrupt" something, like trustworthy lab results!
Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems
51–60 of 70 posts
Re: Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems
#52Earlier 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.
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Re: Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems
#53Earlier 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.
turn off adblock for WSJ in chrome incognito and it works
Re: Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems
#54I'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…
Theranos should really be shut down. But I can't help but think that if it was run by a man, HN would be all over how "onerous" regulations are and proclaiming Holmes a "visionary".
Re: Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
When they have been found guilty in a court of law ?
Ha. Your answer was technically correct but completely useless. Implicit in Animats' question was when that whole process happens.
The FDA does not have the power to jail people. Determining whether the state has sufficient reason to incarnate individuals is responsibility of the justice system. People go to jail when a judge and or jury recon thats justified. The FDA will make its case when it believes it has one.
Will anyone from a 10B startup go to jail ? Probably not, but we can schedule that for afternoon tea outrage.
Re: Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems
#56I'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…
And how much of that is due to Theranos being a medical company? You need to play a clean game when lives are at stake.
Derailing, that's my biggest ":-/" with the Silicon Valley start-up "move fast and break things" culture.
If we as software engineers want to work on problems that matter, and not just dating apps and ad networks, we can't have a work ethic that encourages us to ignore troublesome laws and regulations and launch half-baked MVPs with a plan to maybe fix problems as they arise in future iterations. Sure, work smart, automate all the boring shit, but your automation has to be correct. Sure, focus on a MVP to get off the ground -- but make sure your product is viable, and correct across the minimum set of features.
Even when we are working quickly, sparsely, we should be laying good foundations for the future. We shouldn't be lazy conmen selling poisonous snake-oil.
Re: Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
But who has standing to sue? Whoever suffered a stroke because their warfarin dose was too high or too low is dead, they cannot sue any longer. Whose dose was accidentally correct or whoever was lucky enough not to suffer a stroke did not suffer harm, so they can't bring suit either. And Holmes and the board believed in good faith that their prothrombin test was accurate. No mens rea , no culpability. No prison for a…
The federal agency tasked with that responsibility I would naively presume, or do you prefer trial by media ? And why, exactly, would someone that acted in good faith deserve prison ?
Are you seriously asking if negligence causing an accidental death can lead to prison?
Think people dying when a building in disrepair burns.
Re: Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 99.9…
That's not how healthcare economics works in the real world. No one can quantify the chance of death due to an incorrect test result precisely enough to calculate when it's cost effective to perform multiple redundant tests. The supporting data doesn't exist and no one is going to fund the research to figure it out. And what does 'incorrect' even mean? There is always some margin of error.
In real medical practice if a physician sees a lab result that is way out of range, or significantly different from the patient's previous result, or inconsistent with other aspects of the patient's condition, then she will order a repeat of the same test in order to confirm the results.
Re: Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 99.9…
That's not how healthcare economics works in the real world. No one can quantify the chance of death due to an incorrect test result precisely enough to calculate when it's cost effective to perform multiple redundant tests. The supporting data doesn't exist and no one is going to fund the research to figure it out. And what does 'incorrect' even mean? There is always some margin of error. In real medical practice if…
In fact, my friend was a lab technician in a private outfit. He quit when the boss said "no more running control tests before hospital tests. Its too expensive" So that meant they didn't even calibrate equipment/test for miscalibration any more! And the hospital is paying them for quality; they're delivering risk.
Re: Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems
#60I just want to know when the tell-all book will be released.