Re: The biggest Theranos Red Flag was it's Board
You can get crude estimates of a restricted number of highly soluble compounds that way (diabetics and glucose, for example) but little more
And, even then (speaking as a practising t2 diabetic) the results can be highly variable. Two samples, taken from separate[1] fingers 2 minutes apart, differing by 40%.
Add in the fact that most home units for measuring blood glucose are, frankly, pretty bad and you have recipe of error. And, sadly, the most reliable blood glucose measurement unit I had went EOL 4 years ago since the manufacturer couldn't make enough profit[2] from the test discs.
[1] Cos, by the time you've sucked the first sample site to stop it bleeding and make it stop hurting, you've thoroughly contaminated the site with potentially-glucose-laden saliva.
[2] The manufacturers generally give the units away free (or vastly under cost) in the UK and hope to make their money by charging the NHS when their consumables go on your prescription. If a GP decides to drop your unit from their compatible lists then it's not worth using the unit. And, if enough GPs do that[3], then the manufacturer will withdraw the unit because they can't shift enough consumables.
[3] It's apparently quite a competetive market out there for the reps to get their units onto the GPs preferred lists. Lots of money to be made.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
