The article “The Powerful Impact of the Theranos Whistleblower” presents the story of Erica Cheung, who acted as a whistleblower in a company that faked the results of blood tests to increase sales and investments.
Key stakeholders in this example were the company’s board, employees, companies purchasing Theranos devices, and people who submitted their blood to be tested by any of the Theranos equipment. The board members were among the largest investors and supporters of the idea, and the discovery of the fraud has negatively impacted their reputation and income. The businesses buying Theranos blood testing machines were endangering clients and losing revenue, while individuals undergoing testing were put at risk of misdiagnosis. Employees were also negatively affected as they performed false tests and participated in fraud by concealing results, which damaged their future career possibilities.
As a result, Elizabeth Holmes was arrested, fined, and imprisoned, and the company was dissolved. Her partner, Ramesh Balwani, was also arrested and charged with a similar sentence (Pearlman, 2021). The actions of Holmes and Balwani were morally wrong as they endangered many people’s health. The business owner also lied to investors to gain more revenue, falsely presenting the products as working (Pearlman, 2021).). The focus on deriving revenue and popularity for Holmes goes against the basis of utilitarianism, which focuses on benefits for a maximized number of people (Eggleston, 2020). According to this moral base, people should strive to find solutions that help people and bring positive results to as many individuals as possible (Gesang, 2021). Accounting for the number of people negatively affected by Theranos’ false advertising and misrepresentation of tests, many people were harmed, while only Holmes and Balwani profited. As Theranos hurt more people, the whistleblower, Erica Chaung, exposed the injustice.
To prevent such problems, the leadership needs to have a transparent system of accountability. All workers and management should be held to the same level of scrutiny, and proper equipment checks should be completed by employing outside experts. Additionally, each new invention needs to be adequately checked without the influence of the company’s owner or other high-ranking members to avoid the possibility of tampering.
References
Eggleston, B. (2020). Consequentialism and respect: Two strategies for justifying act utilitarianism. Utilitas, 32(1), 1-18. Web.
Gesang, B. (2021). Utilitarianism and heuristics. The Journal of Value Inquiry, 55, 705-723. Web.
Pearlman, S. (2021). The powerful impact of the Theranos whistleblower. Forbes. Web.