Miscaptioned photo about an organ donor gets the details wrong

A miscaptioned photo of doctors bowing their heads by a hospital bed is spreading on social media, and not for the first time. 

In 2020, AFP fact-checked a claim that it showed staff at an Argentinian hospital paying tribute to its former head of intensive care. That was wrong, and so is the claim in another old post that is getting fresh traction on Facebook. 

"The gift of life in an image," the September 2020 post sharing the photo says. "An organ recovery medical team pays tribute to a young female organ donor who went on to save lives. 

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

Actually, as AFP noted, the photo shows doctors in China paying their respects to a colleague after he died volunteering in Tibet. 

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According to a story posted on the China Global Television Network’s website in 2016, Zhao Ju had a brain aneurysm that ruptured, leading to his death. 

"Zhao’s family respected his noble last wishes and donated his kidneys, liver and corneas," the story says. 

Below the photo that’s being shared on Facebook, the story says "fellow doctors were pictured paying their respects to Zhao with deep bows at a hospital in Hefei City, the capital of Anhui Province." 

There are some similarities between the story circulating online and the reality of the photo. It shows doctors paying their respects to a fellow doctor, who was an organ donor. But it doesn’t show an organ recovery medical team paying tribute to a young female organ donor. 

We rate this claim Mostly False.