Theranos Trial: United States vs. Elizabeth Holmes, Day 12 (Of Doctors and Men)

As Dr. Adam Rosendorff, former Theranos lab director, continued testifying, one word came to mind: "sniveling." Over six feet tall and approaching 260 pounds, Rosendorff looks like he frequents prostitutes not because he wants to, but because he has to. Fun fact: if listening to testimony through an amplified device, you can hear witnesses breathing. Rosendorff has louder breath than any other witness, and during Wade's cross-examination, his breathing quickened, indicating anxiety.

For the second time, a government witness misstated compensation: Rosendorff testified he made 210,000 USD annually when in fact it was 240,000 USD--one of Theranos' highest salaries. When corrected by defense lawyer Lance Wade, he retorted, "Not as big bucks as you get paid." Other than bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Erika Cheung, Tyler Schultz, and Surekha Gangakhedkar, everyone at Theranos seems to have committed at least three of seven deadly sins, greed and pride foremost.

Another fun fact: when witnesses testify in federal court, a federal marshal or security attaché escorts them in and out of the courtroom. For some reason, when Rosendorff finished for the day, no one escorted him out. Wade's initial cross-examination tried painting Rosendorff as a snitch, someone who turned state's witness after lying to the FBI. Though Wade never got anywhere concrete with this line of questioning, Rosendorff looks and acts like a snitch even cops dislike.

During the past week, I've been attending a wake for a family friend in the evening. Iranians, like Indonesians, visit a person's grave for one week post-burial and bring food and tea. Chairs are placed around the burial plot, and as women serve refreshments and men coordinate set-up, the deceased's relative, usually a spouse or parent, opens by sharing his or her thoughts. The idea is to give persons closest to the deceased an outlet to release grief while surrounded by family and friends. One attendee is a emergency room doctor. During a break, I eagerly discussed my newfound knowledge of assays and biomarkers, then asked what she would do if she saw an unusual lab result. Her response? "I'd run it again."

For all the complexity we've seen, medicine is often about redundancy. That must be one reason traditional labs take two vials (or more) of blood--so a backup exists in case a second test is ordered. When I mentioned QC and proficiency testing, my friend shrugged, then confirmed she didn't delve into such details. Real doctors--and emergency room doctors are considered the medical profession's "blue collar" workers--don't want to be lab directors. Lab work, in a sense, is for the little people. Why put a medical doctor, someone who could be saving lives in the field, in a lab? Regulations and accountability, the same reason the law requires wardens in jails. The buck has to stop somewhere, and the government wants it to stop at the CEO at the same time the defense won't stop pointing at the lab director. In a nutshell, Holmes' case is about whom to blame when things fall apart in a lab-related startup: the pretty PR expert or the possibly asthmatic doctor? If you're a bookie, your money's on the blonde. 

© Matthew Mehdi Rafat (2021)

ISSN 2770-002X 

Testimony highlights, paraphrased:

Lance Wade: under regulations, the lab director is permitted to delegate to qualified people, but ultimately, responsibility under federal regulations is on the lab director, correct?

Adam Rosendorff: correct. 

Lance Wade: you never told the CLIA team to stop using Edison, did you? 

Adam Rosendorff: I did not. 

Lance Wade: you never halted use of the Edison system altogether, did you? 

Adam Rosendorff: no. 

Lance Wade: you wouldn't have signed off [on this document] if the Edison was "inherently unreliable," right?

Adam Rosendorff: I would not [have signed].