‘Macabre curiosities’: top US medical museum confronts skeletons of its past

Mutter Museum in Philadelphia at centre of ethics dispute over provenance of its collection of skulls, fetuses and body parts

The Mutter Museum in Philadelphia looks like any other respectable establishment in the United States: a trim brick building with an American flag outside.

But behind its doors lies a remarkable medical collection of the dead, diseased and disfigured that has attracted visitors and tourists for decades but is now at the center of a roiling dispute over the ethics of such exhibits in the 21st century.