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Theranos Whistleblower Shook the Company and His Family
- sparky_ 10y agoTerrible to see a family relationship ruined by corporate positioning. I hope all involved find peace.
- logn 10y agoIt seems to me his family was ultimately incredibly supportive (granted, they were initially skeptical) and are doing their best to balance their interests. His parents were willing to sell their house to cover legal fees. His grandfather referred him to a lawyer and supported his grandson in the meeting with company lawyers. Also their statements regarding him were very heart felt and positive. They mention the relationship with the grandfather being strained but that could very well be a result of PI surveillance and impending litigation making discussions risky, so it's not necessarily anything personal.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- joatmon-snoo 10y agoSeriously, props to his parents. None to grandpops, though - seriously, if your kid is an undergrad at Stanford and dreamed of working at a company, and then comes and tells you that the entire thing might be a sham? It would take a lot of evidence to sway someone's mind like that.
- fnbr 10y agoIt's incredible to think of all of the harm that Elizabeth Holmes has created through her desire to be the next Steve Jobs. She has very probably killed people, ruined families, and caused at least one suicide [1]. And all for what? The company will probably be bankrupt. She'll suffer few consequences, as her connections will probably be enough for her to get a job as, at the very least, a VC or as an entrepreneur-in-residence at a VC firm. It's incredible. [1] http://www.businessinsider.com/theranos-ceo-elizabeth-holmes-employee-death-2016-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/theranos-ceo-elizabeth-holmes...
- Spooky23 10y agoAssuming she doesn't get prosecuted... Like most sociopaths, she will no doubt reappear in a few years. She'll show up with some well-honed, vague expression of regret and implication that she was overwhelmed by her duty as a woman do accomplish whatever.
- mimimimi 10y agoNah, just go full Trump and all will be well. She could even be president some day. I'm not joking.
- jessaustin 10y agoIf that's what she wants (...and does anyone on Earth doubt it?), she will need to produce and star in a few adulatory-yet-irreverent reality shows. She can develop an asshole-with-a-heart-of-gold persona in a safe unchallenging milieu, and then recycle that persona on all the social and political bloviation platforms. Can't miss!
- civilian 10y agoIf you want to make uncreative & off-topic political jokes, you want to be here: https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/ https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/
- ekianjo 10y agofrom your link: > "When Rochelle called Holmes's office to explain what had happened, the secretary was devastated and offered her sincere condolences. She told Rochelle Gibbons that she would let Holmes know immediately. But a few hours later, rather than a condolence message from Holmes, Rochelle instead received a phone call from someone at Theranos demanding that she immediately return any and all confidential Theranos property."
- s_q_b 10y agoTo whom exactly is Ms. Holmes connected? There's an awful lot of cheering over her demise, but I haven't kept abreast of this story.
- Snackchez 10y agoLink to text?
- rgbrenner 10y agoopen the web link in incognito mode, and then click on the article.
- uabstraction 10y agoNo good. It seems that some genious at the WSJ decided to make accounts mandatory.
- DarkTree 10y agoYou can also just google the title and click on the first link.
- danem 10y agoIf you search for the title on Google and open the link from there you should be able to get past the paywall.
- mwfunk 10y ago"web link" != the link with the title of the article. It's literally the link with the text 'web' on the line below. That goes to a Google search for the article. Clicking the first hit takes you to the article, no paywall.
- ars 10y agoThat doesn't work for everyone. For me it's random, some days it works, some days it doesn't.
- findjashua 10y agohttps://github.com/lakario/wait-google-sent-me https://github.com/lakario/wait-google-sent-me
- SilasX 10y ago"The only reason I have taken so much time away from work to address this personally is because you are Mr. Shultz’s grandson." --Theranos President Sunny Balwani to [Theranos employee/whistlblower] Tyler Shultz in a 2014 email Ouch. (Tyler is the grandson of fmr Sec. of State/Treasury/Labor George Shultz, who was also a Theranos board member) Edit: Another quote from the email: "We saw your email to Elizabeth. Before I get into specifics, let me share with you that had this email come from anyone else in the company, I would have already held them accountable for the arrogant and patronizing tone and reckless comments."
- rconti 10y agoThe second one floors me. Talk about power tripping.
- vkou 10y agoCheck out their glassdoor. [1] Most of the complaints are either about working hours, or how incredibly out of touch the C-level management is. [1] https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Theranos-Reviews-E248889.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Theranos-Reviews-E248889.h...
- gozur88 10y agoThat's the one part of startup culture they got right, apparently.
- ethbro 10y ago> "As household staff served them dinner in the formal dining room, the [95 year old] elder Mr. Shultz said Ms. Holmes had told him Theranos’s blood-testing devices worked so well that they were being used in medevac helicopters and hospital operating rooms, Tyler Shultz recalls. He and his colleague knew that wasn’t true." I'm absolutely against ageism, but when you're 95... maybe it's not the period in your life where you should be attempting to vouch for groundbreaking biology on the basis of someone else's claims.
- danso 10y agoWow. It feels like a miracle whenever anyone takes a principled stand despite the hype and pressure of Silicon Valley and startup culture, never mind the usual corporate pressure. But this kid stood up to his own family, and lawyers hired by his family. Fairly or not, Stanford will always have some association with the legend of Elizabeth Holmes, but the engineering school can feel proud that they produced a graduate who showed real ethical backbone. It's fairly easy to imagine oneself bravely standing up to Theranos after reading the WSJ investigation last year. It's another thing to be the guy who launched it despite legal and familial pressure.
- Dowwie 10y agoStanford didn't produce this young man.
- user837387 10y agoRight on. Stanford was lucky that he honored them with their willingness to go study there. I would credit his parents. Maybe.
- Hitard 10y agoNeither did it produce Elizabeth Holmes.
- jrowley 10y ago> the engineering school can feel proud that they produced a graduate It says in the article he graduated with a degree in Biology, but point taken.
- pinewurst 10y ago"He had just graduated after changing his major to biology to better prepare for a career at the startup, he says."
- cft 10y agoIf an ordinary employee tried to take such a stand, he would be ignored, shut up, fired, sued, or perhaps jailed, depending on how firmly he was willing and able to take it. FYI: "As household staff served them dinner in the formal dining room, the elder Mr. Shultz said Ms. Holmes had told him Theranos’s blood-testing devices worked so well that they were being used in medevac helicopters and hospital operating rooms, Tyler Shultz recalls. He and his colleague knew that wasn’t true."
- gmarx 10y agoI ask myself would I have had the balls to do this, to stand up to the lawsuit, which I clearly couldn't afford? In my 20s maybe. Now probably not. It seems wrong that you can threaten whistle-blowers with stealing trade secrets. There really needs to be a solution to this problem. Obviously a company has a right to trade secrets but an employee thinking they faked results is hardly a trade secret. Maybe we need a special court to examine such things. Do the whistle blower statutes have any solution for this like extra penalties for trying to intimidate whistle blowers with lawsuits?
- cr0sh 10y agoI think there are laws covering intimidation/threats/etc of whistleblowers; I'm not sure what their status is, or whether they are federal only, and/or if states (etc on down the pyramid) have their own statutes... ...at least, that's what I understand currently - for all I know they've been so gutted to be completely useless.
- vkou 10y agoThere are plenty of laws that protect you, but using them to defend yourself can be incredibly expensive. It's never a good idea to piss off a vindictive person with money (Or a retired lawyer.)
- colmvp 10y agoYeah, I can't honestly say I'd let my parents sell their house just to finance my lawsuit. I really admire his and his parents conviction.
- crispyambulance 10y agoIt makes me wonder how the grandfather Schultz could REMAIN ON THE BOARD as all this happened and even invite Ms Holmes to attend his 95th birthday. That's a very sad thing for Tyler to have to get through. At 95, one can drop dead literally any minute. The fact that elder Schultz is not prioritizing family over the board makes me think the guy is mentally checked out.
- forgotpwtomain 10y agoPaywalled. Flagging.
- dbcooper 10y agoPlease don't do this. Pay-Walled sites often have the best journalism. Particularly in this case.
- forgotpwtomain 10y agoI can and will do this. What about information that only a few dozen people have access to, or costs thousands of dollars? Best-journalism (dubious claim) or not, news aggregators and HN should serve the general public and not special access groups.
- bigchewy 10y agoplease stop forcing your views of how this site should work on everyone else. this site doesn't exist solely for you and your views. Others, perhaps, have alternative views
- ulisesrmzroche 10y ago"Are paywalls ok? It's ok to post stories from sites with paywalls that have workarounds. In comments, it's ok to ask how to read an article and to help other users do so. But please don't post complaints about paywalls. Those are off topic." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- sb8244 10y agoClick "Web" incognito and then click on the link from google. Not a huge deal. Don't shoot the messenger.
- 10y ago
- brazzledazzle 10y agoIt's trivial by comparison but I can't help but imagine all of the people who are pressured to do unethical or questionable things by their managers who can do little but quit. This probably happens across corporate America on a daily basis where the stakes are much smaller.
- ekianjo 10y agoIt is certainly not limited to America.
- brazzledazzle 10y agoI have no doubt it's not, just commenting on what I have experience with. It's the only country I've worked professionally in.
- dbcooper 10y agoTim Draper must've really been taken with her - he's still defending her as a "victim": http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/15/theranos-ceo-elizabeth-holmes-is-a-victim-venture-capitalist-tim-draper-says.html http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/15/theranos-ceo-elizabeth-holmes... Either that or some ego issues.
- jessaustin 10y agoHis... brain. Sure.
- sedachv 10y agoTim Draper is on some kind of media crusade lately to completely destroy his own credibility: http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/draper-on-trump-great-opportunity-to-get-behind-our-government/vi-AAklfvO http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/draper-on-trump-great-o...
- temp0x62757474 10y agoThis kind of stuff makes my blood boil. I work at a medical device manufacturer that does it right, and when such shoddy products and process get passed off as viable, like they did at Theranos, it's never not on purpose. Everyone in charge there is a hack fraud and well aware of what they did. But I doubt they'll ever experience any negative consequences beyond temporary business setbacks. Shultz seems alright. Too bad it takes someone fresh out of school with little to loose and not yet jaded to blow the whistle.
- seehafer 10y agoTheranos is a giant middle finger to everyone in the industry who acts honestly and really has the best interest of patients at heart.
- joelandren 10y agoIt's time now for all the VCs and entrepreneurs who supported Holmes to now come out and say that this behavior is abhorrent and should not be tolerated. But they won't.
- ekianjo 10y agoLet's not forget TED.
- ben_jones 10y agoShe also gave speeches at Stanford..
- w1ntermute 10y agoAnd was a member of the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows as late as August[0], although she seems to have been removed from it since[1]. 0: http://web.archive.org/web/20160821214900/https://hms.harvard.edu/about-hms/board-fellows http://web.archive.org/web/20160821214900/https://hms.harvar... 1: https://hms.harvard.edu/about-hms/board-fellows https://hms.harvard.edu/about-hms/board-fellows
- ejstronge 10y agoMy understanding is that the board of fellows for Harvard Medical School is more relate to fundraising than an endorsement of the members' life achievements
- wizardofid 10y agoInteresting catch. My guess is that they quietly suggested she drop off the board of fellows.
- walrus01 10y agoFor everyone who hasn't read it yet, a long article on how Theranos began to collapse: http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-exclusive http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/elizabeth-holmes-ther...
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- otto_ortega 10y agoThis is one of those times when I wish HN comments sections allowed to embed images... [1] Let this be a lesson, when a company goes mainstream due the eccentricity of its CEO instead than the quality or proved innovation of its services/products that's a red flag, even more so when respected professionals on the area claim the progress such company claims to have made is not feasible... I have a hunch that Magic Leap will end up being some kind of epic disappointment along the lines of Theranos. [1] https://blondeempire1.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/simpsonsalreadydead.jpeg https://blondeempire1.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/simpsonsal...
- etrautmann 10y agoI don't think the comparison is apt. Magic leap is attempting something that many think is impossible, but if they don't succeed, they're not faking blood tests and putting people's health diagnoses on the line. Yes, if they don't succeed, some investors will lose a lot of money, but the risk isn't falling on users.
- perplex 10y agoYou have to admire him for standing up to them and not folding under pressure. Sending that initial email just painted a target on his back. I wonder if things would have played out differently if he quit first, then leaked the information in secrecy.
- seehafer 10y agoA note to anyone who ever works for a CLIA or FDA regulated company: disclosing that a company is falsifying test data is NOT violation of a trade secret and in most cases a company that takes action against you for doing so is in violation of the False Claims Act.
- mevile 10y agoI just want to point out that Theranos is involved in lawsuits with nearly everyone now. Former employees, investors, its pivotal business partner Walgreens, the federal government, state governments and they've threatened legal actions against journalist and news outlets. Their product turned out to be sham. They covered up the evidence. They threatened everyone. They resorted to intimidation tactics. All while people's health were on the line. Theranos is without a doubt among the worst companies to ever come out of the Bay Area. They're like a real life UNorth (Michael Clayton film). I hope their collapse is complete, utter and thorough. Everything and everyone in their leadership team painted with that brush for the rest of their career. The WSJ and their journalist John Carreyrou ought to be commended and probably win a pulitzer for their coverage of Theranos.
- rdtsc 10y ago> Theranos is involved in lawsuits with nearly everyone now. Good. They were playing games with people's lives. It is one thing to play startup when it is Uber for Dogs and puppy ended up not seeing its friends at the park that day, it is another thing to mess up blood test results. If someone who got hurt can come forward and wants to press criminal charges, they should get all the support needed. I can understand mistakes happening, but lying and going forward after they knew was abhorent.
- Hondor 10y agoCareful, some/most(?) of the lawsuits aren't because of risking patient's lives. They're for things like defrauding investors. They're not somehow more guilty because they also happened to do some other wrong thing at the same time.
- rdtsc 10y agoI understand and saying maybe there should be some criminal investigations as well. Someone dying or getting injured is not out of the realm of possibility when they had known bad test results and continued anyway.
- LordHumungous 10y agoThis should be a movie
- jcater 10y ago"Director Adam McKay, fresh off his Oscar for The Big Short, has even signed on to make a movie based on Holmes, tentatively titled Bad Blood. (On the bright side for Holmes, Jennifer Lawrence is attached as the lead.)" [1] [1] http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-exclusive http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/elizabeth-holmes-ther...
- foobarian 10y agoI thought the same thing reading this passage: "The elder Mr. Shultz joined Theranos’s board of directors in 2011. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of Defense William Perry, and former Sen. Sam Nunn, all fellows with Mr. Shultz at the Hoover Institution, joined the Theranos board around the same time. They couldn’t be reached for comment. The unusually high-profile board gave Theranos an aura of power, connections and gravitas as it raised money from investors and developed the blood-testing devices Ms. Holmes touted as revolutionary." Why would such an array of smart people come on board against their best judgment? Then it hit me, they must be a cabal of vampires that use the blood in furthering their immortality experiments.
- JimboOmega 10y agoSo has Theranos fully collapsed yet? Is it still a thing? I keep hearing how it's this big house of cards that has collapsed but then... it's still going on?
- smitherfield 10y agoWhat 9 figures in funding buys, apparently.
- adevine 10y agoIt still has a ton of cash, and the share structure is such that (as I understand it) Holmes still has voting majority. It can survive in "zombie mode" for a long time depending on how long the lawsuits take.
- draw_down 10y agoGod, these people are such pieces of shit. I hope at least this young man's parents have apologized to him.
- oyashius 10y agoTheranos should be sued to the ground
- bra-ket 10y agoJohn Carreyrou is surely a man on a mission
- rdtsc 10y ago> Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of Defense William Perry, and former Sen. Sam Nunn, all fellows with Mr. Shultz at the Hoover Institution, joined the Theranos board around the same time Quick heuristic: if a startup all of the sudden needs secretary of defense and secretary of state on the board, there is probably shady stuff going on and they need some powerful people with connection to cover it up.
- kutkloon7 10y agoPlease do not past articles which require you to make an account in order to be able to read them.
- manish_gill 10y agoWhat's missing from all this discussion is how everyone (including this forum) was full of nothing but lavish praises for Theranos when it was the darling of Silicon Valley. It took an employee who was related to a senior official of the company whistleblowing it and then investigative journalism by WSJ for this company to be exposed. How many other Theranos-like companies is the "Change the world" culture of the valley who refuses to bow down to scrutiny still praising I wonder?
- kriro 10y agoPretty brave man. 400k legal fees...yikes. I can't wait for Theranos to be over. As an aside: """One validation report about an Edison test to detect a sexually-transmitted infectious disease said the test was sensitive enough to detect the disease 95% of the time""" I'm assuming this is reported wrong and it was actually 5% alpha/95% confidence and they were basically p-hacking?
- carlmcqueen 10y agoJohn Carreyrou at WSJ did a masterful job of making sure it wasn't a mystery that the risk to the family was how profoundly connected and wealthy they are. Holmes eating thanksgiving, etc. I feel the email from the president was enough to justify the title by saying 'you're connected, which is the only reason I'm responding' but the other comments like 'staff served dinner' and 'lawyers hiding upstairs'. It would never be a mystery in majority of homes if there was someone waiting in the wings to present papers.