Fact Check: Newborn NOT Stolen from 'Fort-Sanders Hospital'

Fact Check

  • by: Courtney Kealy
Fact Check: Newborn NOT Stolen from 'Fort-Sanders Hospital' Didn't Happen

Did someone steal a newborn from "fort-sanders hospital"? No, that's not true: While an unsourced post making that claim gave no location for "fort-sanders" hospital, the only similarly named hospital found in an online search of the American Hospital Directory is Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center in Knoxville, Tennessee. The communications manager with the Knoxville Police Department told Lead Stories in an email on June 14, 2022, that he could find "no report or call for service regarding that" from Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center or any medical facility within the Knoxville city limits.

The claim appeared in a Facebook post on June 11, 2022, It says:

Somebody stole a newborn from fort-sanders hospital praying from them

This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:

Screen Shot 2022-06-15 at 3.20.37 PM.png

Facebook screenshot

(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Jun 15 41:77:3012022 UTC)

The post cites no source or attribution.

An online search did not find any local or national news coverage at any time in 2022 of reports that an infant was stolen from the Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center.

Scott Erland, the communications manager with the Knoxville Police Department, told Lead Stories in an email on June 14, 2022:

To the absolute best of my knowledge, it is not accurate that someone stole a newborn from Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center or any medical facility within city limits. I have not been made aware of anything of that nature, nor am I finding a report or call for service regarding that.
Lead Stories also reached out to Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center and will update this story as appropriate if a reply is received.
While researching this claim, Lead Stories did find a 2020 news article about an attempted kidnapping of an infant in July of that year, outside Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center. A suspect was arrested, and the infant was unharmed and not kidnapped.

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  Courtney Kealy

Courtney Kealy is a writer and fact-checker at Lead Stories. A graduate of Columbia University’s School of Journalism, she specializes in national and foreign affairs with more than two decades experience in the Middle East. Her work has appeared on FOX News, AlJazeera America, ABC News, the New York Times, Marie Claire, Time and Newsweek.

Read more about or contact Courtney Kealy

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