Despite renewed claims, Hillary Clinton still doesn’t have Parkinson’s disease

A May 5 Facebook video is resurfacing previously debunked claims from the 2016 presidential campaign about former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s health. 

"EXCLUSIVE REPORT HILLARY CLINTON HAS PARKINSON'S DISEASE, DOCTOR CONFIRMS," the caption reads.

But this is just as inaccurate now as it was years ago. 

The post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

Although the post was shared recently, the video appears to be a 2016 clip by Next News Network, a conservative YouTube channel. Its founder, Gary Franchi, is seen in the video describing the claim about Clinton as an "exclusive exposé" and discusses events that took place in the months before the 2016 presidential election as if they were current.

"Right now you will learn the truth, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Hillary Clinton has Parkinson's disease," Franchi said in the clip. "You will learn the facts, the symptoms that she is exhibiting from a certified physician who has now gone public with a diagnosis that is being hidden from the public’s eye."

Franchi introduced that doctor as Ted Noel, a Florida anesthesiologist, who pointed to various videos of Clinton — including ones that showed her on the campaign trail coughing and an episode at a 9/11 memorial event that was due to pneumonia — as conclusive evidence that she has Parkinson’s disease.  

Featured Fact-check

Instagram posts

stated on October 27, 2024 in an Instagram post

Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz “says that if Democrats win they’ll make (U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) speaker of the house.”

While Noel has decades of experience as a physician, he’s not a neurologist and is not Clinton’s doctor, and he has never conducted a physical examination of Clinton. The Parkinson’s Foundation, meanwhile, rejected the claims in September 2016.

"The allegations that Hillary Clinton suffers from Parkinson’s disease have been reviewed by (the Parkinson’s Foundation’s) National Medical Director, Michael S. Okun, MD, and by others from (the Parkinson’s Foundation) Centers of Excellence network and been unanimously dismissed by every Parkinson’s expert who has weighed in," the organization said in a statement.

"I have reviewed the video footage and some of the recent claims that Hillary Clinton is suffering from Parkinson’s disease," Okun said. "Video analysis and a review of available information does not in any way support a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease."

PolitiFact reached out to Clinton but did not immediately receive a response. 

Presidential candidates routinely release information about their medical histories, and Clinton followed that tradition in the runup to the 2016 election. 

Her personal physician, Lisa Bardack, released a letter in July 2015 and noted that Clinton had previously suffered from two blood clots, a fractured elbow and a concussion, and also had ongoing hypothyroidism and seasonal allergies. Bardack added that cardiac and cancer screenings came back negative and attested to Clinton’s health and fitness to serve as president.

Fake medical documents were leaked in 2016 with Bardack’s name on them that showed her diagnosing Clinton with dementia. "These documents are false and were not written by me and are not based on any medical facts," Bardack said in a statement at that time. "To reiterate what I said in my previous statement, Secretary Clinton is in excellent health and fit to serve as President of the United States."

We rate the claim that Clinton has Parkinson’s disease False.