Bad medical advice from Trump and RFK Jr. had immediate consequences, study says
Doctors spend decades learning medicine. These guys get their ideas from 4Chan.
After convicted felon Donald Trump and vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warned pregnant women that Tylenol might cause autism, a claim scientists say isn’t supported by evidence, doctors saw something immediate: pregnant patients in emergency rooms were almost 10% less likely to receive acetaminophen.
Researchers say the shift happened almost overnight.
“This is thousands of women not getting pain control or not getting fever reduction when they need it, when they want it, when they would benefit from it,” Faust says.
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Dr. Caleb Alexander, an epidemiology professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, says the response to Trump’s White House announcement didn’t surprise him.
“Words matter,” he says. “And when they come from someone with as big an audience as the president of the United States, they can change prescriber and patient behavior.”
Still, he says it’s reassuring that the study found Tylenol use was returning to normal by December. He says it usually takes more than a single event to change prescribing patterns long term.
Doctors spend decades learning medicine. These guys get their ideas from 4Chan.