A French surgeon has been caught red-handed while he was trying to sell an X-ray of 2015’s Bataclan terror attack victim as a non-fungible token (NFT).
The market for NFTs has soared in recent months as enthusiasts and investors use spare savings to buy up items that exist online.
Known as Emmanuel Masmejean, the orthopedic surgeon practises at the Georges Pompidou public hospital in southwest Paris.
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When a woman, who survived the 2015 attacks on the Bataclan concert hall, visited him for consultation, he took her X-ray which shows a forearm containing a Kalashnikov bullet.
Without his patient’s consent, he tried to sell it as digital artwork for around 2,776 dollars (2,446 euros) on the OpenSea website, which specialises in so-called NFT.
Masmejean described her as a young woman who had lost her boyfriend in the massacre at the popular music venue by Islamic State gunmen.
He is now facing legal action and a possible disciplinary charge after the woman found about about his unethical move.
Her lawyer Elodie Abraham said, “This doctor, not content with breaking the duty of medical secrecy towards this patient, thought it would be a good idea to describe the private life of this young woman, making her perfectly identifiable.”
Masmejean tried “to justify himself without expressing the slightest regret nor empathy towards her,” the lawyer added.
The head of Paris’s public hospitals, Martin Hirsch, wrote on Twitter confirming that a strict action will be taken 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.
Although NFTs can function as a legally enforceable contract, they also raise issues relating to insurance, tax and intellectual property, said Max Dilendorf, a cryptocurrency lawyer.
(With inputs from agencies)
