French surgeon tries to sell X-ray of 2015 Bataclan concert victim as digital artwork
- Emmanuel Masmejean faces legal action for trying to sell the picture, which shows a forearm containing a Kalashnikov bullet. It was on sale for around US$2,776
- The head of Paris’s public hospitals confirmed a criminal and professional complaint would be lodged against the surgeon for his ‘scandalous’ decision
A senior French surgeon faces legal action and a possible disciplinary charge after attempting to sell an X-ray of a concertgoer who was shot during the 2015 attack on the Bataclan music hall in Paris.
Orthopaedic surgeon Emmanuel Masmejean, who practises at the Georges Pompidou public hospital in southwest Paris, was first reported by the Mediapart website on Saturday to be selling an image of the X-ray as a digital artwork, without the patient’s consent.
The picture shows a forearm containing a Kalashnikov bullet and was on sale for around US$2,776 (€2,446) on the OpenSea website, which specialises in so-called NFT digital images.
The head of Paris’s public hospitals, Martin Hirsch, wrote on Twitter on Saturday confirming that a criminal and professional complaint would be lodged against the surgeon for his “disgraceful” and “scandalous” decision.
“This act is contrary to sound professional practice, puts medical secrecy in danger, and goes against the values of AP-HP (Paris hospitals) and public service,” Hirsch wrote in a message sent to staff, which he shared on Twitter.
Asked for comment by Mediapart, Masmejean acknowledged that the sale was “an error” and said he regretted not having sought permission from the patient.
She is not identified, but is described as a young woman whose boyfriend was killed in the Bataclan attack, which was part of a wave of shootings and bomb attacks in the French capital by Islamic State gunmen who claimed 130 lives.
According to Masmejean’s description on OpenSea, the patient “had an open fracture of the left forearm with a remaining bullet of Kalachnikov in soft tissues.”
