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A Spot of Blood and a Lot of Nerve: Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes cover art

A Spot of Blood and a Lot of Nerve: Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes

A Spot of Blood and a Lot of Nerve: Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes

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 Send us Fan Mail A single lab result can flip your world upside down, and most of us never see what happens between the needle and the numbers. We follow the rise and fall of Theranos to ask a blunt question: what happens when a healthcare startup sells certainty it hasn’t actually earned? We walk through Elizabeth Holmes’s early ambition, the seductive pitch of finger-prick blood testing, and the very real science problems hiding inside “simpler and faster.” We dig into validation, quality control, proficiency testing, and why tiny samples make accuracy harder, not easier. Then we track how reputation and big names on a board can create a fog of credibility that even smart people struggle to pierce, especially once a major retail partnership like Walgreens puts a friendly brand in front of a risky diagnostic service. If you care about medical fraud, healthcare startups, lab testing accuracy, CLIA oversight, FDA clearance language, or how investor hype can spill into patient care, this one is for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves a good investigative story, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show.RESOURCES1. Walgreens and Theranos partnership announcement (September 9, 2013)2. ABC News original interviews on Holmes's background and early company (2019)3. Ken Auletta, Blood, Simpler, The New Yorker (December 8, 2014)4. World Health Organization, Guidelines on Drawing Blood, Capillary Sampling (2010)5. Bond and Richards-Kortum, Drop-to-drop variation in the cellular components of fingerprick blood (2015)6. FDA decision summary documenting analytical and clinical evaluation of Theranos HSV-1 assay (2015)7. ABC News original reporting and Rochelle Gibbons interview, The Dropout episode 2 (March 12, 2019)8. Santa Clara University, Teaching Note on Interview of Theranos Whistleblower Tyler Shultz9. In re Arizona Theranos Litigation, order discussing Walgreens due diligence and Kevin Hunter's testimony (May 4, 2023)10. Nick Bilton, original investigation of Theranos and Ian Gibbons, Vanity Fair (2016)11. SEC civil complaint against Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos (March 14, 2018)12. United States v Holmes and Balwani, Ninth Circuit amended opinion (December 22, 2025)13. Theranos trial exhibit 4292, internal email discussing sample and dilution issues14. Cal Alumni Association, original Erika Cheung interview (March 16, 2019)15. NPR original Tyler Shultz interview, hosted by CapRadio (2022)16. Fogarty Innovation, Fireside Chat with Tyler Shultz (April 27, 2023)17. Theranos trial exhibit 1660, Tyler Shultz email correspondence (April 2014)18. ABC News reporting on SEC deposition tapes and Tyler Shultz correspondence (2019)19. Roger Parloff, This CEO is out for blood, Fortune (June 12, 2014)20. ABC News original investigation, The Dropout episode 3 (2019)21. FDA De Novo authorization letter for the Teal Wand (May 9, 2025)22. Fitzpatrick and colleagues, Clinical Validation of a Vaginal Cervical Cancer Screening Self-Collection Method for At-Home Use, JAMA Network Open (May 19, 2025)23. National Cancer Institute, HPV and Pap Test Results and Follow-up24. The Hatch Institute, original interview with John Carreyrou (May 21, 2018)25. Association of Health Care Journalists, John Carreyrou on reporting Theranos (May 15, 2018)26. Theranos trial exhibit 2567, legal letter sent to Erika Cheung (June 26, 2015)27. Erika Cheung trial testimony, day 7, transcript archive (2021)28. CAFE, Stay Tuned with Preet interview with John Carreyrou (September 5, 2018)29. Congressional Research Service, Regulation of Clinical Tests, report R43438 (April 11, 2017)30. FDA 510(k) record for Theranos HSV-1 IgG assay K143236 (July 2, 2015)31. FDA Form 483 inspectional observations, Theranos Newark facility (September 16, 2015)32. John Carreyrou and colleagues, Testing Theranos, original Wall Street Journal series hosted by Long Island University (2015)33. Elizabeth Lopatto, original court reporting on Brittany Gould's testimony, The Verge (September 21, 2021)34. Support the showDon't miss a (heart) beat! Check out our Instagram @doctoringthetruthpodcast and email us your Medical Mishaps at doctoringthetruth@gmail.com. Join us on Facebook at Doctoring the Truth, and TikTok @doctoring the truth. Don't forget to download, rate, and review so we can keep bringing you more exciting content each week!Stay safe, and stay suspicious...trust, after all, is a delicate thing!Don't forget to check out these fantastic discounts using promo code STAYSUSPICIOUS from our sponsors at:*thecuminclub.com for 30% off*https://strongcoffeecompany.com/discount/STAYSUSPICIOUS for 20% off*www.handful.com for 30% off *www.standshoes.com for 15% off*www.getcheeky.com for 30% off*https://mollybz.com for 10% off *klearprotein.com for 20% off*www.torrain.org for 15% off*www.cozyearth.com for 21% off* www.yarokhair.com for 15% off *www.loveindus.com for 21% off https://www.tumbleweedandoak.com for 15% ...
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