“
Bataclan terrorist attack – November 13, 2015 – Paris, France
”.
On the online art sales site OpenSea, the caption is as clear as the photo is sharp.
A surgeon from the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) has auctioned the x-ray of a victim of the Bataclan, injured by a bullet in the forearm.
The starting price of 2777 dollars was withdrawn after the Mediapart article published on Saturday evening.
The ad is still online.
Read also“Did I fail somewhere?”: at the trial of November 13, the impotence of the father of a Bataclan suicide bomber
OpenSea is one of the main platforms allowing the purchase of NFTs, or "
non-fungible tokens
", a new form of cryptocurrency increasingly used in the field of art. It allows instant and direct transactions, often from collector to collector. The surgeon has created his own page there, with his name in the title: “
Emmanuel Masmejean Collection
”. Until February 19, 2022, any Internet user could offer his price on the only "
work
", an x-ray of one of his patients on which we can see a Kalashnikov bullet lodged next to the forearm.
On the description, the doctor indicates that 41 patients were transferred, this evening of November 13, 2015, to the Georges Pompidou hospital where he practiced, among which 22 were operated during the 48 hours which followed the terrorist attack.
"
Among these patients, I personally operated on 5 women, including this case
."
A “
young patient
”, he specifies, who “
lost her boyfriend in the attack
”.
An act of “
exceptional gravity
”
The author of the ad, an orthopedic surgeon from the Georges Pompidou hospital in Paris, acknowledged the facts and referred to "
bullshit
". He would have acted, he says, "in an educational vocation, to interest people", but admits " to
regret
" this sale. “
This experience is not conclusive, it does not satisfy me. From an ethical point of view, I asked myself the question… (...) In addition, it cost me money, it's completely stupid!
“, he noted.
The AP-HP was quick to react.
In an email sent to the newspaper, director Martin Hirsch denounced a "
particularly problematic, shocking and indecent
" publication, an "
action contrary to the code of ethics
".
Read alsoWhat silences and lies say at the trial of the November 13 attacks
To remove "
any ambiguity
", the director also addressed all members of the AP-HP in a message broadcast on social networks.
He denounces a "
sandalous act
", of "
exceptional gravity
", and announces his desire to seize the National Council of the Order of Physicians.
The director will also take legal action, as well as "
the ministers who have disciplinary power
".
"
Such heinous behavior cannot smear the hospital community, which can only disassociate itself from this act
", reacted firmly Martin Hirsch.
