Famously creepy M ütter Museum reckons with its past

Many regular visitors to the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia have their favorite specimen. There’s the megacolon—a 2.4-meter-long brown organ, the result of Hirschsprung disease in a 29-year-old man who performed at a freak show as Balloon Man and died in 1892 with 18 kilograms of poop in his bowels. There’s the Soap Lady, whose remains are covered with adipocere , or “corpse wax,” a fatty substance that forms in warm, alkaline, and airless environments. And there are the skeletons of Carol Orzel and Harry Eastlack , two Philadelphians who lived with fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, in which connective tissue slowly turns into bone. For decades, the 35,000 objects and specimens in the storied museum, which just completed a $3.2 million renovation of its storage and lab facilities, have attracted legions of fans, including some members of the disability community who see themselves represented in its exhibits. But in February, members noticed that most of the museum’s images and videos had disappeared from its website and YouTube channel, without explanation, although the objects themselves remained on display. After a public outcry, the leadership of the museum and the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, which owns the Mütter, revealed the reason: They have launched a thorough ethical review of the museum’s handling and display of its 6500 specimens of human remains. ...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research