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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Health & medicine fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about health & medicine. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

13,677 published reviews in this topic

NewtralHealth & medicine

La noticia de las medidas de ahorro en gasto sanitario de 2013 que se viraliza como actual

Publisher’s rating: Engañoso

The viral image showed a headline saying that doctors who saved on tests and medicines could earn up to 10% more. Newtral reports that the underlying story was genuine, but dated from 2013: it was written by EFE and published in Diario Información. The story concerned management agreements in the Valencian regional health service, not Spain’s public healthcare system as a whole. The image was circulating on Facebook from 2018, accompanied by a comment presenting it as a description of healthcare at the time it was shared. To check what the headline meant, Newtral says it consulted the Valencian health department by email and examined the agreements and the original article’s fuller context. The department told Newtral that none of the indicators rewarded not prescribing medicines or not ordering tests; its account was that the indicators promoted efficient use of resources without restricting prescribing. It also said the headline-related indicator assessed average prescription cost and aimed to encourage more efficient medicines, rather than merely cut spending. The image omitted context from the original story: the possible extra payment depended on meeting indicators across several categories, and the article described it as up to 10% of annual salary, not a guaranteed increase. Newtral also reports that the headline-related indicator was no longer part of the current agreements in 2019. Thus, an old, region-specific report was being presented as current and nationwide, while the cropped headline did not convey how the incentive was defined or assessed.

FACTLYHealth & medicine

Ramdev Baba got operated in a hospital in Germany.

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerned a photo shared on Facebook as evidence that Ramdev Baba had undergone an operation in a German hospital. The investigation traced the image’s earlier appearance using Google Reverse Image search and found it in a Firstpost article. The review says that image was taken at a Dehradun hospital in 2011, when Ramdev broke a nine-day hunger strike—not during an operation in Germany. The review places the image in the context of Ramdev’s hunger strike, which began on 4 June 2011. It reports that he broke his fast on 13 June in the presence of spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, despite not receiving assurances from the Centre on his demands. That provenance contradicts the post’s presentation of the photo as showing a German hospital operation.