Ivermectin overdoses said to leave Oklahoma gunshot victims waiting
■ The claim
Rolling Stone, building on a KFOR interview with an Oklahoma ER doctor, ran a headline saying gunshot victims were left waiting because horse-dewormer overdoses were overwhelming Oklahoma hospitals.
■ What actually happened
On Sept. 4, 2021, Northeastern Health System Sequoyah, a hospital the doctor was linked to, said it had treated no patients for ivermectin complications and had turned away no one needing emergency care; it also said the doctor had not worked there in over two months. Rolling Stone added an update saying it could not independently verify any such cases and revised its headline. The doctor later said the coverage made it sound as if hospitals were full of ivermectin patients, which he said was not the case. Another hospital said it had seen only a handful of such patients.
■ The proof
NHS Sequoyah's Sept. 4, 2021 statement and Rolling Stone's own update acknowledging it could not verify the cases.
■ Original reporting
- Rolling Stone article (now retitled and updated)https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/gunshot-victims-horse-dewormer-ivermectin-oklahoma-hospitals-covid-1220608/
■ Corrections, findings & records
- Lead Stories: timeline of KFOR report, Rolling Stone story, hospital statementshttps://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2021/09/fact-check-doctors-comments-about-ivermectin-and-hospital-backups-were-not-reported-as-stated.html
- First Draft: What Rolling Stone's botched ivermectin story tells ushttps://firstdraftnews.org/articles/rolling-stones-botched-ivermectin-story-raises-questions-about-the-nature-of-misinformation/
- Sinclair/WJLA: Two Oklahoma hospitals differ on doctor's claimshttps://wjla.com/news/nation-world/two-oklahoma-hospitals-differ-on-doctors-claims-over-ivermectin-overdoses
■ Wayback Machine copies
Stories sometimes get edited after publication. These links open the Internet Archive's earliest snapshot of each original.
- Archive copy: Rolling Stone article (now retitled and updated)https://web.archive.org/web/2/https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/gunshot-victims-horse-dewormer-ivermectin-oklahoma-hospitals-covid-1220608/
■ Grade
RETRACTED: The outlet itself retracted, corrected, or settled. How we grade →