Over the next two years, Tom had noticed Ian’s growing gloom. As
they sat down for lunch at Fish Market, Tom wondered whether Ian
had followed him there. Most Theranos employees ate the food
Elizabeth and Sunny had catered and didn’t leave the office during the
day. What’s more, the restaurant wasn’t near the office and Ian had
walked in just a minute or two after him. Ian had probably hoped to
catch him alone, Tom thought. He seemed desperate for someone to
talk to. But Tom was there to reconnect with his friend, a salesman for
a Japanese chipmaker. They tried to include Ian in the conversation,
but he remained quiet after an initial exchange of pleasantries. Later,
when he replayed the scene in his mind, Tom realized he’d ignored his
colleague’s silent cry for help.
Tom ran into Ian one last time in early 2013 in the office cafeteria.
By then, he looked despondent. Tom tried to buck him up, reminding
him that he was earning decent money and urging him not to take his
work predicament so seriously. It was just a job, after all. But Ian just
stared at his plate, disconsolate.
—
IAN’S DEMOTION WASN’T the only thing eating away at him. Although
he was now a mere in-house consultant, he continued to work closely
with the person who had taken his job, Paul Patel. Paul had
tremendous respect for Ian as a scientist. When he was in graduate
school in England, he had read all about the pioneering work on
immunoassays Ian had done in the 1980s at a company called Syva.
After he was promoted, Paul continued to treat Ian as an equal and
to consult with him about everything. But they differed in one crucial
respect: Paul shied away from conflict and was more willing to
compromise with the engineers building the miniLab than Ian was.
Ian refused to give an inch and became furious when he felt he was
being asked to lower his standards. Paul spent numerous evenings on
the phone with him trying to calm him down. During these
discussions, Ian told Paul to stand by his convictions and never to lose
sight of his concern for the patient.