Research Paper on Theranos Scandal

Introduction

Theranos is a company in the United States that offered various lad tests at a rate cheaper than the Medicaid and Medicare services. It used the dubious means to get more customers and to raise the ladder financially (Fiala, and Diamandis, 2018 p. 1). It became one of the best companies but with too many deceits. Later on, its reputation is spoilt, and the owners are sued for fraud. This paper focuses on the allegations made against it; ethical implications in line with six pillars of value; Kohlberg's theory and reset theory; its impacts on the society; and recommendations.

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Allegations of the Theranos Scandal

It is alleged that Holmes and Balwani deceived and illegally took money from patients, investors and doctors of millions of dollars. It is said that the two were using solicitations and advertisements to lure their victims into using the services of blood testing laboratory (Fiala, and Diamandis, 2018 p. 1). Theranos lied that they were offering cheaper, painless and faster blood tests. Theranos collected blood samples using non-technological methods as they claimed. The blood could not run into the other companies' machines they used, so they first mixed it with water. There were also issues with the results which were said not to be accurate. They lowered their rates than those of the Medicaid and they also took less time to produce their results.

Ethical Implications Violated

Theranos acts were unethical. As a business entity, Trustworthiness is very important. It announced to its clients about things that were not true at all. Their results were not accurate. They used traditional methods when their advertisements were on highly technological machine use. They made commitments that they never followed through with. There is always a right to respect and to be respected (Kelley, 2017, p 12). Theranos violated this right. By using people for their financial gains is to lack respect for those individuals. All the respectful companies should be in a position to extend respect to their clients and their fellow workers, competitors and employees. Being tolerant of oneself and extending it to others is also considered a type of respect. The managers and employees make company decisions. Only responsible individuals should be in a position to own up to their decision consequences. Theranos instead of taking the blames of their actions results; they tried to divert the blames to other people. Positive ethics entails caring for the employees and customers as well. A business person must learn to show gratitude. Helping customers and listening to their concerns also shows caring.

A caring company has the responsibility of listening, for example like Theranos, when customers raised complaints about being duped, they turned a deaf ear. Being fair is part and parcel of the ethical act. By being fair, Theranos ought to have returned the money they took from people unfairly. Unfairness is also depicted when they used the wrong methods and produced untrusted results. The robed doctors and patients also had the rights for compensation. Citizenship refers to being part of a community. The Theranos Company did not obey the laws of the community. The company had a responsibility of helping the community, but instead, they robbed the innocent community members.

According to Kohlberg's theory, Theranos behaviors are seen as unethical. By being arraigned in court and charged, shows that the managers' disobedience led to punishment. The second stage of this theory is that acting in one's interest is viewed as right behavior. According to this level, Theranos acted according to what they felt the best suit them. They stole from people with the aim of satisfying their greed for money (Bennett, 2018 p 18). The third stage of good or bad means one does what is viewed by the society as right. In this case, whatever the Theranos did was highly condemned by the society and led to them being charged in the court. The third stage is containing stages 5 and six considered to be in line with understanding other people's interests. When putting the interests of others into consideration means you care about them and what they feel. Indeed, ethical behaviors must also apply conscience.

The reset theory states that after reaching the end of a road or a journey or route, one has to resets and starts again (Bennett, 2018 p 18). Theranos as a company started at a very low level with fewer employees and machinery. They developed to the extent that by the time they were being accused, they had hit a $9 billion mark. An ethical company will always stay at the top of their game because they have nothing to fear. Climbing the ladder through dubious means leads to great downfalls. Theranos being an unethical company suffered a great loss that led to the closure of its companies.

How the Scandal Did Impact the Society

The society general had no trust in the health facilities that existed due to fear of facing the same treatment as in the Theranos Company (Kanter and Courneya, 2018 p 22). It is always said that cheap is always expensive, Theranos lowered all their charges with the aim of attracting more customers. The society from this lesson will learn never to trust anything cheap but to go for the normal rates of the market to get genuine services. This episode acted as an eye-opener to the majority of business people practicing illegal business. The society has now become alert to the fact that there are fake doctors and clinicians.

Entity Recommendations

It is recommended that business and companies should exercise their services with all the six pillars of value. It is also advisable not to lie to investors. The board of directors should be of professional people who are trustworthy (Kanter and Courneya, 2018 p 22). This is geared towards avoiding corporate failure in governance. It is also recommended that

In conclusion, there were allegations of fraud against Theranos. There were also various unethical behaviors that went against six pillars of value, Kohlberg's theory and reset theory. The act also impacted society in different negative and positive ways. Recommendations include not lying to the investors, having qualified personnel in the board and also to always have their moves the right direction.

List of References

Fiala, C. and Diamandis, E.P., 2018. Theranos: Almost Complete Absence of Laboratory Medicine Input.

Kelley, C., Lee, S., Shields, V. and O'Rourke, J.S., 2017. Theranos, Inc: Managing Risk in a High-flying Biotech Start-up. Eugene D. Fanning Center for Business Communication, Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame.

Bennett, C., 2018. Bad Blood Has the Goods on Theranos. Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News, 38(13), pp.1-22.

Kanter, M.H. and Courneya, P.T., 2018. The Importance of Continual Learning in a Rapidly Changing Health Care Environment. The Permanente Journal, 22.