Elizabeth Holmes barred from federal health programs for 90 years ( arstechnica.com )

Elizabeth Holmes—the disgraced and incarcerated founder of the infamous blood-testing startup Theranos—is barred from participating in federal health programs for nine decades, according to an announcement from the health department Friday.

The exclusion means that Holmes is barred from receiving payments from federal health programs for services or products, which significantly restricts her ability to work in the health care sector. It also prevents her from participating in Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health care programs. With a 90-year term, the exclusion is lifelong for Holmes, who is currently 39.

The exclusion was announced by Inspector General Christi Grimm of the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General.

Holmes is serving an 11-year, three-month sentence for defrauding investors of her blood-testing startup, Theranos, which she founded in 2003. At the time, Holmes claimed to have developed proprietary technology that could perform hundreds of medical tests using just a small drop of blood from a finger prick. The remarkable claim helped her drive the company's valuation to a stunning $9 billion in 2014, and set up lucrative partnerships. But, in reality, the technology never worked. The company collapsed in 2018, and she was convicted of fraud in 2022.

Crack0n7uesday ,

She will still get benefits, every inmate gets benefits even though the care you receive in prison is low quality it's still cruel and unusual to not give prisoners access to at least minimal health care needs. A case like that wouldn't even make it to the supreme court. She just can't receive payments or work for a company that receives payments from those services.

SpringMango7379 ,
@SpringMango7379@lemmy.world avatar

I read that as in she is unable to work or research, in the medical field, not as a patient.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

It also prevents her from participating in Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health care programs.

...

Holmes is serving an 11-year, three-month sentence

So what happens if she gets sick in prison?

Nurse_Robot ,

Participating as a provider, not as a patient

driving_crooner ,
@driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br avatar

It also prevents her from participating in Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health care programs.

This is pretty unfair imo. I don't think she would going to used them, but still.

prole ,
@prole@sh.itjust.works avatar

It's unclear what they mean by "participate" in this context. The sentence right before that is talking about being barred from receiving payments from federal health programs, so I'm wondering if they mean "participating" on the provider's side, rather than the patient's.

Don't really care enough to look into it though.

QuadratureSurfer ,
@QuadratureSurfer@lemmy.world avatar

From the official OIG website:

HHS-OIG has authority under 1128(a) of the Social Security Act to exclude from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other Federal health care programs individuals who have been convicted of certain crimes, including criminal offenses related to health care fraud. An exclusion is an administrative sanction that protects Federal health care programs and the people they serve by prohibiting payment for any health care item or service furnished, ordered, or prescribed by an excluded person.

https://oig.hhs.gov/newsroom/news-releases-articles/hhs-oig-issues-notice-of-exclusion-to-founder-and-ceo-of-theranos-inc/

I could see it argued both ways. It looks like this is meant to prohibit her from working with or receiving payment from any group in this sector.

From the wording it's difficult to tell if this means she also won't be able to be reimbursed for her own personal healthcare costs by any of these programs.

And if anyone really wants to get into the legalese:
https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title11/1128.htm

Son_of_dad ,

Imagine she's 80, broke, alone and is struggling. She's already served her time, but she's still not allowed health services? Seems kinda fucked, and it's fucked that the government has access to this slippery slope of banning convicts from health services

bramblepatchmystery ,

They haven't banned her as a future recipient of health services. They just effectively banned her from ever making a dime in the entire health services industry.

adrian783 ,

nah fuck her

Eezyville ,
@Eezyville@sh.itjust.works avatar

If they don't want her to participate in Medicare and Medicaid then go all the way and not allow her to pay into it with her tax dollars. This seems like cruel and unusual punishment.

EDIT: It also seems arbitrary because I don't think this was part of her sentence.

Buddahriffic ,

It's not about fair, it's about sending the message that you don't fuck with rich people's money, especially not in a way that publically embarrasses them.

GilgameshCatBeard ,

And yet…. Antivaxxers walk free.

girlfreddy ,
@girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

And the Sacklers' walk free.

theangryseal ,

That depresses me.

I grew up in their test market. I watched every friend I had lose their parents to opioid addiction. I watched my dad go from busting his ass caring for us, camping trips, fishing trips, and hunting trips, to hanging out behind a car wash with other unemployed junkies while we cooked on a wood stove and had no electricity.

I grew up in it so it was normal. I ended up on it. You either had a social life or you didn’t. There weren’t very many sober people left by 2005.

I have seen death and chaos all of my life. My brother and I are among about 5 boys from our neighborhood left. We got sober because luckily our mother never touched the stuff and was able to be there for us. The rest in our age group are dead. Overdoses and suicides because of the addiction.

I knew nothing but violence and chaos as a kid because they lied and made junkies of entire communities.

Money is magical. As long as you pay your taxes you’ll be fine. Might have to deal with some embarrassment from time to time, you might get your name taken off of something. Other than that, luxury and protection.

The only reason Holmes is in jail is that she fucked with other people with money. She should have found a way to get rich poisoning the poors.

girlfreddy ,
@girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

The only reason Holmes is in jail is that she fucked with other people with money. She should have found a way to get rich poisoning the poors.

That's also the only reason rich people stay rich ... they own the justice system, Wall St and the banking system lock, stock and barrel.

I'm glad you made it through, and sad so many didn't.

tsonfeir ,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

Don’t forget the ivermectin pusher with the spray tan

FonsNihilo ,

Yes well you see, the antivaxxers doesn't steal money from the ruling class so it's fine.

Custoslibera ,

She is an absolute psychopath and should be jailed for life.

Brkdncr ,

I honestly believe that this (what she did) happens all of the time. But she was too young, too female, to get away with it.

I suspect we won’t see any more consequences in the future for most people. I’d love to be proven wrong.

squirmy_wormy ,

I'd bet it's more she went the silicon valley route and banked on the tech avenue/public bragging to make money. The others fly under the radar.

AnneBonny ,

Definitely.

Maeve ,

Echoes of Martha Stewart.

Cosmonauticus ,

But she was too young, too female, to get away with it.

The combination of these two usually makes it easier to get away with things

moistclump ,

Hmmm

TserriednichThe4th ,

The only reason she even got funding was because she was the female steve jobs

blanketswithsmallpox ,

Too young, white, and female? You mean the least incarcerated demographic in the USA?

It's surely not because she's a fake voiced sociopath who got the hopes up of millions of patients and healthcare workers alike... falsely representing technology to defraud millions of investors...

Nope... Definitely because she's a middle aged woman lol.

tsonfeir ,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

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    Aidinthel ,

    You are mistaken. Real doctors and patients made serious medical decisions based on the results from her tests.

    One of the most troubling patient stories that Scavdis would learn about was the case of a pregnant woman whose Theranos test indicated that she was miscarrying. Gratefully, she later learned, she was not. Another woman revealed to Scavdis the pain and fear she experienced when her Theranos blood test indicated that her life-threatening ectopic pregnancy had been dissolved when, in fact, it had not.

    https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/regulatory-news-stories-and-features/patient-advocacy-lies-heart-fda-agents-theranos-case

    tsonfeir ,
    @tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

    [Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    TheBat ,
    @TheBat@lemmy.world avatar

    Stop simping for scammers

    nonailsleft ,

    But isn't it part of the story that they had the actual tests done by other, established laboratories, because their own equipment never worked?

    I guess every laboratory has a number of incorrect diagnoses. And real doctors and patients act on those as well.

    It's not like Ms. Holmes was filling in fake reports on her phone to scam patients, is what we're saying

    Aidinthel ,

    The promise Theranos made was that their tests could be run with a much smaller sample of blood than other labs. Therefore, the results were inherently unreliable even if they used real machines, because they didn't have the sample amount the machines were designed for.

    AnneBonny ,

    The only people impacted were the “defrauded investors.

    I don't know where you got that idea.

    The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has decided that Theranos' Newark, California, facility poses "immediate jeopardy to patient safety."

    In December 2013, a lab inspector found that the lab didn't meet the required standards for at least 10 different blood tests.

    Despite the changes that Theranos implemented after the 2013 inspection, the company's California lab failed even the simplest of tests the next year. The company obtained "unsatisfactory" scores — 70 percent and 40 percent — for two blood typing tests in early 2014,

    In April 2015, Theranos was caught once again skipping over a fundamental safety procedure, at a lab in Scottsdale, Arizona. Theranos couldn't produce data showing that its staff has tested the lab's commercial instruments before using them on customer samples,

    https://www.theverge.com/2016/1/27/10853340/government-says-theranos-lab-poses-immediate-threat-to-public-safety

    tsonfeir , (edited )
    @tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

    [Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    AnneBonny ,

    You're moving the goal posts. You said:

    The only people impacted were the “defrauded investors.

    tsonfeir ,
    @tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

    [Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    meat_popsicle ,

    …people who didn’t have cancer took chemotherapy. That will give you cancer.

    She gave people cancer and you’re saying it’s just money. Amazing.

    MamboGator ,
    @MamboGator@lemmy.world avatar

    If she's still alive in 90 years, maybe we'll regret it.

    EmergMemeHologram ,

    I hear she’s got a machine that can diagnose all illnesses from a single dose of blood, so she might get there

    LemmyKnowsBest ,

    imagine this: It's the year 2114 and 129-year-old Elizabeth Holmes, still sprightly & deviant & sociopathic, is starting up a new medical industry and defrauding investors all over again because none of her contemporaries remember her shenanigans from 90 years prior because they weren't even born yet

    meyotch ,

    Justice is not swift.

    Semi-Hemi-Demigod ,
    @Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social avatar

    Hard to move fast when you're blind

    Agent641 ,

    Taylor is though

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