“Paul, it has to be done right,” Ian would say.
Sunny had put a man named Samartha Anekal, who had a Ph.D. in
chemical engineering but no industry experience, in charge of
integrating the various parts of the miniLab. Sam was perceived by
some of his colleagues as a yes-man who did Sunny’s bidding.
Throughout 2012, Ian and Paul had several tense meetings with Sam.
Ian stormed out of one of them after Sam informed them that the
miniLab’s spectrophotometer didn’t yet meet certain specifications Ian
considered nonnegotiable. Sam had previously agreed to them but
now said he needed more time. When he returned to his desk, Ian was
distraught.
On weekends, Ian and Rochelle often went on walks in the rolling
hills surrounding Portola Valley with Chloe and Lucy, their two
American Eskimo dogs. During one of these walks, Ian told Rochelle
that nothing at Theranos was working, but he didn’t go into any
details. The strict nondisclosure agreements he was bound by
prevented him from discussing anything specific about the company,
even with his wife. He also bemoaned the turn his career had taken.
He felt like an old piece of furniture that had been warehoused.
Elizabeth and Sunny had long stopped listening to him.
In the early months of 2013, Ian stopped going into the office on
most days and instead worked from home. He’d been diagnosed with
colon cancer six years earlier and had missed some time at work after
undergoing surgery and chemotherapy. Colleagues assumed that the
cancer had returned. But that was not the case. He remained in
remission and his physical health was fine. The problem lay with his
mental health: he was in the throes of a deep, undiagnosed clinical
depression.
—
IN APRIL, Theranos informed Ian that he had been subpoenaed to
testify in the Fuisz case. The prospect of being deposed made him
nervous. He and Rochelle discussed the lawsuit several times. Rochelle
had once done work as a patent attorney, so Ian asked her to review