A24 released the documentary “You Can See Everything” today. The film follows Elizabeth Holmes as she allowed a film crew into her home days before starting her federal prison sentence. STAT reporters have covered Holmes and Theranos for years; readers looking for context will find contemporaneous reporting and analysis helpful before seeing the film. STAT documented the company’s rise, public demonstrations, and the controversies that followed, providing a record of how the story unfolded as events occurred.
STAT’s archive includes contemporaneous dispatches from key moments. The newsroom was present when Holmes was scheduled to present her data at a major clinical-chemistry meeting in 2016; STAT reported that the presentation did not deliver the rigorous validation many expected. Investigative pieces followed the company’s operational struggles, including layoffs, legal disputes with Walgreens, and the eventual shutdown. The outlet also published a 2025 op-ed by Theranos whistleblower Tyler Shultz, who drew comparisons between Holmes’ original trajectory and the activity of a later diagnostic company, Haemanthus. These pieces together map the public sequence of claims, scrutiny, and regulatory and legal consequences.
Clinical pharmacist Marcela Gottschald shared patient accounts that complicate simple explanations like forgetfulness or side effects. She recounted meeting patients who stopped medication to assert control over their bodies or to preserve a self-image that conflicted with being a treatment recipient. One case involved a young kidney-transplant recipient who initially said he’d simply forgotten immunosuppressants; he later disclosed that, because of a new pregnancy in his partner’s life, he stopped medication to "become a man," in his words. Gottschald wrote that such conversations reshaped her understanding of adherence: medications can become entangled with identity, stigma, and the roles people believe they must fulfill. The essay suggests clinicians should probe beyond surface answers and consider psychosocial drivers when addressing nonadherence.
The Vatican announced surgeons removed the lower lobe of Pope Leo XIV’s right lung to treat lung cancer and described the operation as successful without complications. The office did not supply the cancer’s stage or whether further therapy is planned. STAT quoted an oncologist who inferred that choosing surgery often indicates the treating team believed the tumor was resectable — a finding consistent with attempts at curative intent when complete excision is feasible. The article also notes that the pope’s tumor type was reported as lung adenocarcinoma and references population-level survival statistics for localized non–small cell lung cancer. However, the source did not provide patient-specific staging, pathologic details, or whether adjuvant therapy will be given.
Four years after the FDA allowed adults with mild-to-moderate hearing loss to buy hearing aids over the counter, devices are more affordable and more widely available. STAT cited published analyses showing prescription hearing aids historically cost about $3,400 while many over-the-counter devices are roughly $500, and that first-time buyers often choose OTC products. Yet the rule’s implementation has produced mixed results. Clinicians report uncertainty about how to refer patients to OTC options. Researchers also raised verification concerns: in an assessment noted by STAT, only a minority of devices listed on Amazon could be verified with the FDA. Those gaps in quality assurance and clinical guidance have contributed to early-market companies exiting despite lowered consumer prices. The article referenced a JAMA analysis for the cost figures and the verification findings.
STAT linked to several original reports and related coverage across the newsroom: pieces on Theranos’ presentations and decline, the whistleblower op-ed, and event coverage from the STAT Summit. The newsletter also pointed readers toward external reporting cited in the dispatches — for example, a JAMA article on hearing-aid pricing and a Northwestern Medicine statement about lung cancer that STAT used to contextualize the pope’s surgery. Readers seeking the source details should consult the linked STAT articles and the external items STAT cited for direct quotations and underlying data.
Limitations and unanswered questions
The STAT piece repeatedly notes where primary clinical details were not available from official statements. For Pope Leo XIV’s surgery, no stage or adjuvant plan was provided. For the OTC hearing-aid discussion, the precise market exit reasons for individual companies were not fully enumerated in the newsletter; STAT referred to verification and referral challenges reported by researchers. And for the Theranos material, STAT’s compilation reflects reporting and commentary rather than new clinical or regulatory trial data. Those are gaps readers should expect when looking for definitive clinical or regulatory endpoints.
If you want to read further before movie night, STAT’s links and the external sources it cited are the direct places to start.