Unbearable images.
A human liver bathed in formalin, a desiccated brain, lungs in a jar labeled "1986"... But above all, a human fetus, at an advanced stage of development, in a plastic bucket filled with maroon liquid, left carelessly at the bottom of a shelf.
These supposed human remains were filmed in the abandoned morgue of the Émile-Roux hospital, in Limeil-Brévannes (Val-de-Marne), known for several years to be a macabre spot for urbex (urban exploration), a practice which consists of exploring abandoned places that are generally off-limits.
A building nicknamed "Morgue of the brains"
Among the "explorers" of this disused building, which some call the "Morgue of the brains", Ben, a 35-year-old Briton, went there twice.
The first time in October 2020, just before the Covid.
“Everything had been left in place.
Human organs, documents.
It was crazy, ”says the 30-year-old.
Inside this former research laboratory, specializing in anatomopathology (examination of organs, tissues or cells) and where there is a morgue, cleaning therefore seems to have never been done since its closure, there is at least ten years.
Mortuary fridges, autopsy tables, dusty registers with dates and names… Stacked cardboard boxes contain analysis slides, medical images are scattered, syringes and autopsy instruments have been forgotten on desks.
But while exploring the place further, Ben comes across absolute horror.
Jars revealing what look like human organs: lungs, liver, brain… “When I saw a brain left like that dried up in the basement of the morgue, I was shocked.
Never, in four years of urbex, had I come across something like this,” he continues.
The laboratory closed at least ten years ago, but the equipment was never evacuated... DR
Two years later, on June 3, 2022, the English urbexer returned to the scene.
And this time, he takes videos.
“When I came back, I said to myself: ok, the brain is still there, he launches into a nervous laugh.
It was shocking and sad.
But at the same time, it's quite an exciting discovery.
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But the state of these organs, abandoned, questions Ben.
He decides to warn the hospital by sending an email… remaining unanswered.
“I didn't want to spoil the plan for the other urbexers, but I thought to myself:
if the building is stripped by ill-intentioned people, what will become of these organs?
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“There is no security, no cameras.
It’s really very easy to get into it”
If the images of Ben freeze the blood, we managed to get others, even more edifying.
Those of a perfectly preserved fetus.
On the video that we were able to watch and authenticate, the little body appears curled up in an ordinary plastic bucket filled with formaldehyde.
We can see his arms folded on his stomach, his hands with formed fingers, legs, feet, a head... Without any labeling, the container where the fetus rests has obviously been forgotten at the bottom of a shelf in the old laboratory. of the Emile-Roux hospital.
The hospital claims to have cleaned the lab in May 2022, but some of the videos we have recovered were shot a few days ago.
DR
The site, "little guarded", according to Ben, is regularly the subject of intrusions.
“There is no security, no cameras.
It's really very easy to get into it, ”he says.
To locate it, nothing could be simpler: just type “abandoned hospital, Limeil” in the search bar of the Google Maps or Waze applications and the exact location appears.
On the Internet, the Easyurbex site even offers to reveal the GPS coordinates of the site, in exchange for a few euros.
On social networks, several urbex followers share videos shot inside.
“I learned that someone who went there recently told a lot of people about it.
And that explains why today, more people are trying to get there, ”says our witness.
According to the Civil Code, “the respect due to the human body does not cease with death”
All of these shocking discoveries obviously raise ethical and legal questions.
“We must not leave elements of the human body like that, abandoned”, insists Pierre Le Coz, member of the Academy of Medicine and specialist in ethics, after looking at the images that we have obtained.
"I think that an establishment that leaves human remains abandoned and in such a state of neglect can only have to deal with justice at some point, given the seriousness of the responsibilities that are incurred," says the professor, citing article 16-1-1 of the Civil Code.
The latter stipulates: “The respect due to the human body does not cease with death.
The remains of deceased persons, including the ashes of those whose bodies have been cremated, should be treated with respect, dignity and decency.”
“This is clearly not the case here”, asserts the philosopher again, who sees in the “dispersed and neglected” side of these human remains, “something startling and upsetting”.
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A source inside the hospital, who knew the laboratory well before it closed, seems not to be surprised to learn that certain organs may have been forgotten for years.
He also specifies that the morgue has remained as it is for all this time, not explaining why the "cleaning" has not been done there.
When questioned, the director of the Émile-Roux site, Jean-François Besset, explains that he discovered “by chance of a break-in” in May 2022, that “all this research material had not been completely cleaned when its occupants left. ".
“In the process, we immediately removed all the forgotten samples and research material”, he assures us several times, acknowledging that it “is not normal” to have kept them in these conditions.
The material is scattered, as if the scientists had simply gone on a lunch break...
While it is possible that the hospital did intervene to remove some elements "in June 2022", we maintain, however, that the disused laboratory was still far from empty at the beginning of 2023. As proof, the presence in particular of a heart and a fetus, filmed on January 1 and 6.
We have verified and formally authenticated these images, by analyzing, among other things, their location and dating data.
In 2005, the shock of the discovery of 351 fetuses and remains
In an email sent a few hours after our interview with Jean-François Besset, the communication department of the Hôpitaux Universitaires Henri-Mondor, which includes five hospitals including that of Émile-Roux, denies the presence of the fetus on the site.
“Le Parisien showed us images of a fetus in a plastic bucket that was allegedly found in the former research laboratory.
We formally deny the presence of such a fetus.
During the withdrawal of the samples from the research laboratory, no fetus was in fact listed by the professionals in charge of this mission.
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In 2005, a similar case had greatly shocked public opinion after the discovery of 351 fetuses and remains of stillborn children, kept in the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul hospital in Paris.
At the time, "it had been strongly emphasized by the National Ethics Advisory Committee that these collections of fetuses should no longer be used", underlines Pierre Le Coz, shocked that there could still be some "in this state. ".