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Bataclan attack survivor 'shocked' after X-ray becomes NFT
A French woman who survived the 2015 attacks on the Bataclan concert hall in Paris is "extremely shocked" after learning that her surgeon was attempting to sell an X-ray of her injuries online, her lawyer said on Monday.
A senior orthopedic surgeon at the Georges Pompidou hospital in Paris was reportedly revealed at the weekend to be offering an image of her forearm, which shows a Kalashnikov bullet lodged near to the bone, as an NFT digital artwork.
He faces legal action and a disciplinary charge for allegedly not having asked for permission from his patient, who he described as a young woman who had lost her boyfriend in the massacre at the popular music venue by so-called Islamic State group gunmen.
"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," lawyer Elodie Abraham claimed in a statement sent to AFP.
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, was "extremely shocked" by surgeon Emmanuel Masmejean's alleged behaviour.
He called her on Sunday "to justify himself without expressing the slightest regret nor empathy towards her," the lawyer asserted.
The image, which has now been withdrawn, was for sale for $2,776 (€2,446) on the OpenSea website, according to the Mediapart outlet, which first reported the story.
Using the blockchain encryption technology behind cryptocurrencies, NFTs are digital artworks that cannot be duplicated.
They burst into the mainstream last year and are now traded at major auction houses, generating several hundred million dollars in transactions every month.
The attack on the Bataclan was part of a wave of shootings and bomb attacks in the French capital on the night of 13 November 2015 by gunmen who claimed 130 lives.