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Subscribe to RSSA hugely popular news story about a jilted dentist accused of pulling out all her ex-boyfriend's teeth has unraveled as a hoax.
News websites around the world ran the story last week about a woman in Poland named Anna Maćkowiak who took revenge on a man named Marek Olszewski when he turned up at her clinic complaining of toothache, days after dumping her for another woman.
Among the numerous U.S. news sites that picked up the story were Fox News, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, Yahoo! News, MSN, the New York Post, and The New York Daily News. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft, which operates MSN, and Comcast.)
The story even included quotes from the scorned dentist and her toothless ex.
"I tried to be professional and detach myself from my emotions. But when I saw him lying there I just thought, "What a b******," Maćkowiak was quoted as saying.
Quotes attributed to the boyfriend victim meanwhile read: "I knew something was wrong because when I woke up I couldn’t feel any teeth ... When I got home I looked in the mirror and couldn't f******* believe it. The b**** had emptied my mouth."
Online news outlets also reported that his new girlfriend had left him because "she can’t be with a man without teeth."
The story claimed Maćkowiak is being investigated for medical malpractice and could face up to three years in jail.
But when msnbc.com contacted police in Wroclaw, Poland, about the supposed criminal case, a spokesman said they had no record of such an incident.
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"Lower Silesia Police Department has not been notified about such an event and is not investigating such a case," Pawel Petrykowski of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Wroclaw said in an email that was translated into English.
A legal adviser for Poland’s Chamber of Physicians and Dentists, which handles disciplinary matters, said the organization is not investigating and has never investigated any such case, and added that there is no dental practitioner named Anna Maćkowiak listed in Poland’s central register of dentists.
"No information about this kind of misconduct has been provided to the Supreme Chamber," the legal advisor, Marek Szewczyński, said in an email. "The Supreme Chamber is also not aware of any actions of this kind being taken by the Regional Chamber of Physicians and Dentists in Wroclaw, which would be the competent authority in case of a possible professional misconduct committed by a dental practitioner from Wroclaw."
Most online news outlets in Poland left the story alone.
Polish television news channel TVN4 published an article mocking foreign media's coverage of the story, which it speculates began as a prank. "It appears that the article, written as a joke, began life on the Internet and has little to do with any truth," the translated article reads.
All the news reports about Maćkowiak published on news websites in the U.S. and elsewhere, such as Australia’s Herald Sun or New Zealand Herald, can be traced back to an article published in the online edition of Britain's Daily Mail newspaper.
The article, which has been shared on Facebook more than 75,000 times since it was published on April 27, appears under the byline of staff reporter Simon Tomlinson.
But Tomlinson said he does not know where the story came from and distanced himself from it when questioned about its origins.
"I've drawn a bit of a blank," he said in an email. "The (Daily) Mail Foreign Service, which did the piece for the paper, is really just an umbrella term for copy put together from agencies. My news desk isn’t sure where exactly it came from."
The American Dental Association’s national spokesperson, David Johnson Jr., said the story of Maćkowiak’s revenge was highly improbable -- not just as an unprecedented abuse of the doctor-patient relationship but because most dentists are equipped to administer drugs only for conscious sedation dentistry. That would mean the ex-boyfriend would know his teeth were being extracted as it was happening, rather than realizing it after he arrived home.
"Patients are already fearful enough of going to the dentist," said Johnson, who has an oral surgery practice in Tennessee. "It’s really concerning if anyone is delaying getting treatment because they think there is even a possibility that something like having all their teeth removed could ever happen."
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What is interesting is that the list of newsites given above didn't include THIS site. I read about this last week on MSNBC. They may have admitted a false story, but they didn't admit to running it themselves. Typical.
This is whw you should never totaly believe what is posted on these network sights
Dear MSN,
I noticed that in the 'Suckers who reported a false article' list, you forgot to mention yourself. Not to mention the fact that several people on the original story shared links to where it was stated the story was untrue, but their comments seemed to disappear within a few minutes.
Just thought I, and several others, should point that out.
Sincerely, 'We're not as ignorant as you think..'
Yep, I read the story from a link on the MSN website frontpage.
Our local paper just did a full page heart rending story about a young newlywood couple who got ripped off big time in a work from home scam. They conveniently ommited the fact that the couple had responded to an ad in the same paper to get sucked in and that the ad was still in the paper the day the story ran.
Some of these stories are perhaps what one would see in the National Enquirer anyway.
Hahahaha! I wonder how many suckers on the Vine posted nasty, hateful things regarding the alleged dentist and her ex. I'm willing to be there were many, many. How foolish must they look now! Hahahaha!
Some people will only post hateful and derogatory posts because they feel their lives are so miserable, they want everyone else to feel as bad as they do. They just don't want to do anything to makes themselves better. Very sad.
@ Yourekidding-1544479: Do you mean, like what you just posted?
Hey MEEEEE, I did not post hateful things, just facts. And I found some humor in it. Boo hoo for you, I guess.
'Journalists' picking up internet trash and publishing as 'news'. Then following it up with another news saying the earlier one was not true
Another example of don't believe half of what your read. Journalist only write half truths on new worth reporting and the other half is just to get readers. True journalism has died along with real reports.
Looks like the people who called "hoax" on this from the first were right. Sorry I wasn't one of 'em. Oh well, I wasn't the only one fooled, and stuff almost this weird has turned out to be true!
Don't feel bad most of us (Including me) got duped because really it's very plausible this could happen. We've all read dramatic stories about how vindictive a scorned woman can be. Remember the old saying,"hell hath no fury as a scorned woman".
Did msnbc.com edit themselves off the list of sensationalism reporting websites that posted the initial new report?
Why am I NOT surprised...
:-/
Well, with out coming out and admitting anything or even apologizing they have left themselves open to critisimns for their inept reporting. So, let the comments come fast and furious!!! MSM deserves to be taken to task!!!! Now waiting to see what other stories we got fed a load of bs on?!?! Any bets on the percentage of stories in the last 2 months that are filled with false "facts"??? I'd say 82% for starters.
Once again FAUX news with egg all over their lying faces. No double checking facts just running with any story just because of the sensationalism.
Most online news outlets in Poland left the story alone.
Even most of the Poles didn't go near this fake story.
Also funny MSNBC reported this too so as much as I hate to admit, they failed us on this one.
So I wonder if Poland will now start out a joke. There was a German, Russian and a AMERICAN walking in to bar. (I guess the shoe is on the other foot now.) Pretty funny...
Couldn't agree more rams! If anybody deserves that, we do...ugh...
The story line FAILED to mention MSN which is where I read it.........right here. So it has to be true.
How in the world can some baffoon actually get political with this news story. Oh ya I know....only a leech liberal could
Ugh.. Everyone rushes to be "breaking news" no one bothers to even check out something before they print it?? What I joke, I write better articles in my sleep.
Will the news outlets report the hoax with the same enthusiasm that they reported the "incident"?
You might see the correction article....in very small print under the HEALTH section...shhh
The "DAILY MAIL" explains it all. I wouldn't use it in a Turkish Loo.
What a nice wake-up call about responsible journalism and reporting. Whose the brightest light bulb in the crowd now? Congrats...MSNBC at least you did set the record straight unlike others thus far.
I knew no one could be that dumb.
But then again some of these people out here are going to vote Romney for president.
How many poles does it take to fool the United States?????? One, with a keyboard and an internet connection.
The Polish media ignored the story, believing, and rightly so, that it was a hoax, while all other international ones, including here in the US, ran with it as if it was gospel truth and fact. And the Polish media has laughed about how stupid the non-Polish media is. Talk about turning the tables when it comes to ethnic jokes.
We'll see that one on the Comedy Channel pretty soon.
That's because MSN always investigates their stories and only reports those with which they can verify the facts. BAHBAHBAHBAHBAHBAHBAHBAHBAHBAHBAHBAHBAHAB.....Sorry, I kept a straight face as long as I could.
MSNBC.com Look like idiots for the 3rd time in a week!
By. Me
Earlier this week MSNBC's news webpage ran a story about a jilted dentist who supposedly pulled all of her ex-boyfriends teeth. The article was poorly written with countless grammatical and spelling errors, and if that wasn't bad enough, the story was completely fictitious. More on that later.
Next, MSNB's coverage of the huge tragedy in Tennessee that is still unraveling. A Tennessee man who awoke to find his family and friend missing.
I would love to go into more details, but MSNBC's reporting and editing was horrendous. The first word in the story was "Tenesse" Misspelled. The beginning of the story said the wife, and oldest daughter's bodies had been found, and the end gave details about them and asked people to look for them. Apparently the guys at MSNBC believe in zombies.
Third and finally, MSNBC printed this "Story of vengeful jilted dentist WAS too good to be true."
A title that truly conveys how desperate they are for a good story. The writer mentions other news sites that ran the earlier story, but in what should be a retraction of the story to account for their incompetence, they completely neglect to mention they also ran this fictitious rumor as a story. And that's the story of how MSNBC lost all credibility.
If I am not mistaken, MSN.com, you as well reported the story as gospel.. Oh well, WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES..
Just goes to show how these big networks don't have good reporters who verify the story.
.....but it was still pretty funny, and I was rooting for the dentist.
aaron: Pun intended??? rooting LOL
Remember the good old days when journalists would check their facts and perform other tasks of due diligence before running a story? It is interesting that MSN excluded themselves from the "suckers" list, and made comments saying this was a hoax disappear.
I'm not in the news business, but I'm wondering if news agencies have ANY reporters, today. Maybe they just pay bloggers a couple of dollars to find (er...create) stuff to print. Between the numerous grammatical errors, lack of checking, and all the crazy fluff stuff....there doesn't seem to be much real news being reported.
It looks like today, being first to report a story is more important than it being complete, accurate and honest.