ABSTRACT
After raising more than $700 million, Elizabeth Holmes, the founder and chief executive officer of a healthcare startup once valued at $10 billion, was found guilty on four charges of defrauding investors. Founded in 2003, Theranos Inc. was a privately held corporation that aimed to disrupt the diagnostics industry with rapid, direct-to-consumer laboratory testing using only "a drop of blood" and the company's patented Nanotainer technology. By exploiting gaps in regulatory policy, Theranos brought its panel of laboratory tests to patients without pre-market review or validation from peer-reviewed scientific research. Investigations into Theranos' dubious operations and inaccurate test results exposed the failed venture which had squandered millions of dollars. Theranos affected the lives and health of patients further disrupting an already tenuous relationship between healthcare and the public - the importance of which cannot be understated in the setting of the COVID-19 pandemic. As medical systems address a national public health crisis and pervasive structural inequities, we must align stakeholder incentives between industry and academic biomedical innovation to rebuild trust with our patients.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/diagnosis , Clinical Laboratory Techniques/methods , Fraud/prevention & control , Pandemics , COVID-19/epidemiology , Clinical Laboratory Techniques/ethics , Clinical Laboratory Techniques/standards , Delivery of Health Care , Fraud/economics , Fraud/legislation & jurisprudence , Fraud/trends , Humans , Nanostructures/standards , Nanotechnology/economics , Nanotechnology/standards , Public Health , United StatesSubject(s)
Inappropriate Prescribing/legislation & jurisprudence , Licensure, Medical/legislation & jurisprudence , Professionalism/legislation & jurisprudence , Radiologists/legislation & jurisprudence , COVID-19/diagnosis , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/virology , Criminal Law/legislation & jurisprudence , Fraud/ethics , Fraud/legislation & jurisprudence , Germany , Humans , Inappropriate Prescribing/ethics , Male , Physician-Patient Relations/ethics , Professional Misconduct/ethics , Professional Misconduct/legislation & jurisprudence , Professionalism/ethics , Radiologists/ethics , SARS-CoV-2/genetics , SARS-CoV-2/isolation & purification , Trust/psychologyABSTRACT
Since COVID-19 emerged, a plethora of misinformation has undermined the public's ability to identify reliable sources of accurate information. To identify the range of methods governments used to address COVID-19 misinformation, we conducted a content analysis of international media and evaluated government actions in light of international law, which protects freedom of expression and calls on governments to guarantee this fundamental right even during a pandemic or other emergency. We identified five categories of government activities: (1) disseminating and increasing access to accurate information; (2) restricting access to accurate information; (3) disseminating disinformation, false information, and misinformation; (4) addressing commercial fraud; and (5) criminalizing expression. The goal of addressing COVID-19 misinformation is best served by protecting expression, disseminating factual information, ensuring strong protections for whistleblowers, and supporting an independent media environment. Conversely, governments undermine public health when they create a state of uncertainty and violate human rights.