Topics: France, Health, World News
Sometimes, emergency departments see things that are a little more far out there than they’d expect - but rarely do they see a historical explosive stuck up someone’s anus.
If you’ve ever watched any kind of medical show, you’re likely to come across an episode showing a patient who has stuck something where the sun doesn’t shine.
But you never expect to see someone use artillery for pleasure.
Shockingly, doctors in France were left shell shocked (ahem) after a 24-year-old man arrived at a hospital in Toulouse with a 16x4cm World War One German artillery shell stuck in his rectum that dated back to 1918.
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According to a member of staff at Rangueil hospital, who confirmed the incident anonymously to local newspaper La Dépêche du Midi, the man turned up with severe pain in his bottom.
The situation ended up needing a bomb squad and fire fighters to come to the hospital’s aid as they evacuated the location for fear of the bomb doing, well, boom.
The man allegedly told staff he had ‘introduced an object’ into his rectum, but did not explain what it was.
French police sources reportedly said: "At the time of the extraction, the surgeon realized that it is a shell of the First World War, about 16 centimetres long and 4cm wide.”
"As a precautionary measure, firefighters are mobilized to reinforce in order to prevent any risk of fire during the intervention," La Dépêche reported.
According to the outlets, the shell turned out to be decommissioned, and the scene was cleared by the bomb disposal team as being safe.
Oddly, this isn’t the first time this has happened in France.
A bomb scare was called in a different hospital and was partly evacuated after an 88-year-old came in for help with similar anal pain.
A spokesperson at Hospital Sainte Musse in Toulon told Var-Matin that: "An emergency occurred from 9pm to 11.30pm on Saturday evening that required the intervention of bomb disposal personnel, the evacuation of adult and paediatric emergencies as well as the diversion of incoming emergencies.”
As it turns out, he had stuck an artillery shell – eight inches long and two inches wide – up his rectum and it became stuck. However, the bomb squad determined it was unlikely it would explode inside the man.
They added: “They reassured us by telling us that it was a collector’s item from the First World War, used by the French military.”
According to the hospital, the man was able to make a full recovery.
Is this a common thing for people to do with war time memorabilia?
