Talk:Theranos

Theranos This article provides a brief yet comprehensive overview of Theranos and the controversies surrounding its practices and notorious founder and CEO, Elizabeth Holmes. The article just reaches the 2900 word count, with a total of 2904 words. This word count does not include the lengthy reference list but does however, include the contents table. The overall structure of the article flows very well. The article builds up information for the reader for subsequent components. For example, the ethical analysis of Theranos is presented at the end of the article, after the background of both the company and Elizabeth Holmes is presented. The opening paragraph is succinct and interesting, giving just enough information to prompt the reader to continue down the article. Breaking up the opening paragraph into 3 smaller ones also helps the reader understand the transition between the various topics of Theranos. The opening paragraph effectively summarizes the company and its controversies as a whole.

Structure

The article is split into 5 main sections: history, criminal investigation, corporate, technology and products, and ethical implications. Each section also has various sub sections for further organization.

The history section is well balanced, with equal attention given to the life of Elizabeth Holmes and how she started Theranos, and Theranos as a company trying to raise capital. I believe the timeline could be condensed into a list of dates with maybe a brief sentence of less than 10 words explaining each one’s significance. Organizing the dates into individual paragraphs just seems to add unnecessary length to the article.

The criminal investigation section is very detailed and well researched. It presents information from the defense as well as the prosecution for the reader when much of the attention has been focused on the prosecution. It also lists all of the charges that were placed against Holmes. The only thing that I would consider adding is whether Balwani was convicted on any charges.

The corporate section seems to provide less information compared to the other sections. I would consider not devoting an entire section to this information and add it to the history instead.

The technology and products section is also well written and researched. The graphic displaying the actual machine is very helpful for the reader. I believe the section would benefit with more details as to what exactly was promised by the machine and what were the major criticisms that made people begin to be skeptical. More information on the miniLab towards the end of the section could also be useful. Some quotes from medical experts showing doubt towards the technology could also be added.

The final section was ethical implications. The first sub section, misinformation, was very well written and researched. The addition of anecdotes from patients of Theranos helped emphasize the lasting effects misinformation at such a large scale can have. Anecdotes from the previous employees also helped emphasize how pervasive the issue was. The second subsection was on ethics in tech entrepreneurship. Once again the addition of the testimonies of previous employees helped bolster the severity of this issue. The specific mentioning of Ethics in Entrepreneurship is also a great resource for the reader if they are trying to look deeper into the issue.

Clarity

The article is written in such a way that clarity is not an issue. The formatting gives the reader a solid background of the company and all of the controversies that surrounded it. The anecdotal evidence that was given during the ethics section also helped clarify the severity of the company’s actions and why ethics in technology should never be overlooked.

Objective Reporting

The author has a very objective stance in the issue and does not interject her own opinions into the article. She is able to provide information for both the prosecution and the defense in the trial of Elizabeth Holmes and also gives the reader an understanding of the benevolent goal that the company was originally built upon.

Finally the author based her article on a plethora of research from well known and credible sources. These include major news networks such as CNN and abc news as well as documents from the department of justice website.