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Comment by twtw | Hacker News Reader

Did theranos have anyone doing real research work? My understanding was that theranos had real, good scientists who were continuously pressured to fabricate results and do quick hacks to keep up appearances. What real research work could anyone have been doing if everyone there was ignoring the fact that their procedures and equipment did not product accurate results?

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Good question, I don't know. It's possible they were sent on wild goose chases knowing they were in vain and just a front. I have no idea, but I know they had good scientists in their employ.

In any event, research labs have many lines of inquiry and separate teams working on their specialty. I don't know if they produced good IP, just that they had good scientists working for them, and have moved on to other reputable companies since.

This outfit singled out by the FDA though, it looks like complete fraud.

Any scientist who compromised his or her ethics by continuing to work for Theranos after seeing how they operated from the inside was not "good", by definition. Their reputations will be stained forever.

Not necessarily. Teams aren’t privy to everything in other teams. It's possible their reps be stained forever, but it's not all deserved. Mgmt can be deceptive. Just because you're an expert in one line of inquiry does not mean you're an expert in another (and can call out fakery, esp if it's kept from them).

Unethical people can hide it well. They probably also had people at all stages of their careers, eg. imagine a very junior person being impressed with the position, with very little work experience to be able to see through office sociopathy. I am sorry for anyone who now has such a stain on their record after being exploited like that.

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