Warning: posts linked to in this article contain graphic images.
Posts on Facebook claim to show a picture of a baby born with her heart outside of her body. The posts also claim that a certain amount of money needs to be raised for the little girl’s operation, and for every share some money is raised.
The photo does seem to be genuine. Back in April 2017, several news outlets published reports that a little girl called Hemlata had been born in India with a rare condition called ectopia cordis, where the heart develops partially or totally outside of the chest.
But the articles reported that the baby was awaiting surgery after the government had stepped in to provide financial aid for medical bills. They reported that three days after the little girl was born, she was transported to the All India Institute for Medical Sciences in New Delhi and was awaiting her operation there.
An article published in The Times of India on 15 April 2017 reported that Hemlata had sadly died in hospital.
There’s no record of the family raising money for the little girl’s medical bills by asking people to share a photo of her, or evidence that sharing the picture will generate money for her.