Health

Does a video clip show a young woman who had lung surgery because of energy drinks who will never be able to speak again? No, that's not true: The video footage was taken from another TikTok account where it was presented with no mention of energy drinks. The original @hey_itsabs video caption said that her lung had been punctured by…

Did the United States have no children's hospitals in the 1960s and 1970s, when comedian Rob Schneider was a child? No, that's not true: The first children's hospital was opened in Philadelphia in 1855, with 26 operating by 1895, according to an academic paper. Hospitals opened in the 1960s include St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. The claim originated…

Is a video of a pregnant woman saying her doctor told her to leave Texas to deliver her baby because of the state's abortion laws authentic? No, that's not true: The woman posted another video explaining that she is not pregnant and not from Texas. She said it was an "engage bait" strategy in which she pretended to be "MAGA"…

Did Nicole Sirotek get a 4 a.m. call from the husband of a pregnant woman dying of liver failure after she took a large dose of Tylenol to disprove President Donald Trump's declaration that acetaminophen causes autism? Here's what we know: Sirotek, who Lead Stories has previously fact-checked for COVID misinformation, posted the anecdote on social media September 24, 2025,…

Did Tylenol tweet a warning that they "actually don't recommend using any of our products while pregnant?" Yes, that's true: The drug maker posted the message on its official Twitter account in 2017 in reply to another post that has since been deleted. The company's reply was still on the Tylenol timeline on September 24, 2025. The claim appeared in…

Is it true that Cuba has no access to Tylenol and virtually no autism? No, that's not true: This rumor is false on both counts; Tylenol, usually marketed in Cuba as Paracetamol, is available -- although there can be shortages. The rate of diagnosed autism in Cuba is lower than world averages. There are nine schools for autistic children in…

Would Dr. Mehmet Oz, a former diet supplement company advisor and investor, profit from the Trump Administration's plan to recommend folinic acid for those on the autism spectrum? No, that's not true: As a condition of taking the job of Administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Oz pledged in writing to close out by July 3, 2025…

Did a graphic including a short-haired person, labeled "Your body during pregnancy" appear in an official King's College Hospital NHS poster in the UK, as social media posts claim? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for the King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust told Lead Stories the poster was not produced by the trust nor displayed at its hospitals. The…

Did Chris Hayes publicly announce he is stepping down or pausing hosting his show "All In" due to his wife's health? No, that's not true: No credible news organizations reported that. Viral posts on social media tied the purported decision to the supposed cancer diagnosis of the TV host's spouse, allegedly also publicly discussed by the couple, but Lead Stories…

Did a "first population-wide peer-reviewed study" confirm that COVID-19 vaccines cause "turbo cancers"? No, that's not true: The study referred to its results as preliminary. The corresponding author told Lead Stories that more research is needed to confirm the findings about cancer among those vaccinated against COVID-19. The claim appeared in an article (archived here) published on The Gateway Pundit…

Did the NFL ban rainbow gear from the playing field after Philadelphia Eagles Coach Nick Sirianni wore a rainbow hat? No, that's not true: The claim was spread by a Vietnamese-based publisher who used AI-generated text and images in an article that went viral on social media. There are no authentic photos of Coach Sirianni wearing the hat. A quote…

Does a viral social media chart correctly represent the portion of the transgender population that had committed a mass shooting or the share of mass shootings according to gender identification between 2015 and 2025? No, that's not true: The charts supply no source for those numbers. Organizations that professionally track mass shootings using police records and public information had not,…

Will the earth experience "colder weather than ever before" during the "aphelion phenomenon" in August, 2025, as its elliptical orbit takes it to its most distant-from-the-Sun position of the year, as multiple social media posts claim? No, that's not true: Earth's distance from the Sun changes daily and at aphelion, the Earth's distance from the Sun is only about 3%…

Did North Carolina pass a law allowing foreign doctors to practice medicine in that state without taking a U.S. qualification exam? No, that's not true: The legislation, which was signed into law by North Carolina's governor on July 1, 2025, addresses a severe shortage of primary physicians at the state's rural hospitals by giving non-U.S.-trained doctors "new licensure pathways," according…

Is the city of Los Angeles planning to convert a parking lot across from a high school in Encino into a camp for homeless people to live in 125 RVs? No, that's not true: The proposal to use a train station parking lot would provide temporary storage space for RVs after the homeless owners move off the street and into…

Are rabbits spotted in the wild with "weird tentacles" or "horns" infected with a rare virus, as claimed by social media users? No, this is misleading: The rabbits have a common viral infection, papillomavirus, that causes extensive skin growth that looks like horns or tentacles. A spokesperson for the Colorado Parks & Wildlife Department told Lead Stories the "wart-like growths"…

Did a viral image show a real CNN report about tech billionaire Elon Musk being hospitalized on August 4, 2025? No, that's not true: Searches across Google and CNN produced zero confirmation that the network ever published such an article on its website. The account that spread the image on social media identified itself as a troll account. The claim…

Do viral photos really show a father with Down syndrome named Ben and his son Noah? No, that's not true: According to several detection tools the images were generated using artificial intelligence. Several variations of the pictures are making the rounds, but none of the ones reviewed by Lead Stories are real. An example of such an image could be…

Does the German government publish a sexual education website that includes a cartoon panel saying "Most German men will be happy to have gay sex with immigrants"? No, that's not true: The phrase doesn't appear on the German sex education site. The version circulating on X.com is a doctored version of an infographic used in multiple countries. The panel appearing…

Did Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. testify before Congress that "China is putting gay chemicals in the vapes, coupled with fruity pina colada flavoring agents"? No, that's not true: The video uses generative AI to imitate Kennedy's voice and mouth movements, but it ends with a screen of text that says it is a deepfake. The account on which the video…