In September 2025, a creator on TikTok posted a video claiming that a pregnant woman was dying because she overdosed on Tylenol attempting to prove U.S. President Donald Trump wrong for claiming that Tylenol was linked to an increased risk of autism in children.
The original TikTok page of the creator who posted the video (archived), Nicole Sirotek, has since disappeared from the platform. However, the video was still available on the creator's other social media accounts, including Instagram. The alleged story also spread to other pages, such as Facebook, X and news outlets such as The Gateway Pundit.
Sirotek's video began:
So it's about, you know, it's gonna be 6 a.m. finally. And for those of you who don't follow me on Twitter, I recommend that you do. I got a call, a very frantic call at 4 o'clock in the morning from a husband whose wife is now dying on liver failure on a ventilator in an ICU because she was trying to prove that Tylenol doesn't cause autism because of what Trump said on the news. Mind you, that's a Harvard study. Now, whether or not you believe the Harvard study or not is not the issue here. The issue is that she's somewhere between 23 to 25 weeks and she overdosed on Tylenol. And she's going to die. She's not gonna come off that ventilator. And the guy got my phone number from somebody, somebody gave it to them.
This story was purely anecdotal. Despite dozens of other platforms sharing the claim, Sirotek did not provide any evidence that the events she described transpired. We reached out to both the original TikTok account (before it disappeared) and Sirotek's backup TikTok account seeking evidence that the call took place and the context regarding why a man would call her with this information, but did not immediately receive a response. We will update this story if we do.
We also reached out to the American Frontline Nurses, which Sirotek founded and of which she serves as executive director. We had not, as of this writing, heard back from the organization.
No credible news outlets reported on the claim. The only original source of the claim came from Sirotek's own telling of the story, making it unfounded and anecdotal.
Several hundred people die every year in the U.S. due to overdose from acetaminophen (Tylenol is the most common brand name), according to Harvard Health Publishing. However, Sirotek has a history of making up or spreading health misinformation. Fact-checking outlets such as Lead Stories have debunked claims from Sirotek in the past regarding COVID-19.
On Sept. 24, 2025, Sirotek posted an image of a comment on Instagram that read:
How do we know this is true and is happening right now. If You really received this frantic call? I would love to see this story somehow verified as true.. @nicolesirotek Contact the local news and have it checked - verified and recorded... have it aired on national TV? You have connections... find someone to get you behind a camera to talk about this woman. She's murdered her baby with pills and everyone's in the comments like oh "pray for her survival." Folks... She's guilty of SOMETHING - there's no way this can't be construed as a crime somehow? Premeditated murder.
Sirotek's response in her caption did not address the question regarding whether she "really received this frantic call." She wrote instead:
I would love to talk to the news about this situation and what is going on in hospitals. Remember I was the one who told everyone about what was going on in the hospitals in 2020. I was also the one who warned everyone about remdesivir and the Covid shot killing kids before the doctors finally caught on. I would love to go on @joerogan and let him know considering he's had every doctor in but won't get back to me. Or how about @jordan.b.peterson who has also spoke with the doctors but not the nurses? I had a scheduled phone call with him when he was on a book tour in Brussels which he missed. Or how about @tuckercarlson and his @tuckercarlsonnetwork? I've reached out to him and his network as well. Once again, he has spoken to the doctors but not the nurses. 'm down to talk to anyone that will listen, they just don't want to listen to me because I'm "just a nurse"
In our analysis of the claim that Tylenol causes autism, as Trump claimed, we found no definitive evidence. Rather, multiple medical groups have reiterated that it remains safe to use during pregnancy, and studies that show a link do not prove causation.