Is that a skull on your coffee table?

The dangers of being in medical art and medical education.This article appeared in today's Chicago Tribune (the major Chicago newspaper) and I couldn't help but find it slightly amusing because I know that many, if not all, medical illustrators have a few skulls and skeletons in their studios or households.By Jeremy GornerTribune staff reporterPublished May 2, 2007, 9:54 AM CDTLink to original article

"Chicago police found four human skulls in a Bucktown apartment overnight, they said.But the skulls, which belong to 26-year-old Brian Sloan of Chicago, were apparently used for medical purposes, and aren't being tied to any unsolved homicides.The discovery "doesn't appear to be anything nefarious at this time," according to Shakespeare District Lt. Perry Nigro, who said the man makes anatomical models. "No other human remains or anything else was found (in the apartment)."Nigro said the skulls have been turned over to the Cook County medical examiner's office for examination. Grand Central Area detectives were conducting a death investigation.Police responding to a call about the skulls found them overnight in the apartment, located in the 2100 block of North Damen Avenue, Nigro said.A customer apparently came to the residence wanting to buy a mannequin and saw a skull boiling in a pot, the lieutenant said. "I'm assuming he (Sloan) was cleaning them. There was nothing unusual about them," Nigro said.Sloan said one customer came to his apartment Tuesday afternoon and purchased several mannequins, but insisted that person would not have informed police about the skulls.In a telephone interview this morning, Sloan said he arrived at his apartment around 11 p.m. and ran into four Chicago police officers who wanted to talk to him about the skulls. Over the next three hours, at least 10 officers, including one or two who identified themselves as homicide detectives, swarmed his apartment, he said.Sloan was not arrested. "They (police) wanted to make sure I'm not some Jeffrey Dahmer they're overlooking," he said.Police said Sloan got the skulls from China. But Sloan would not confirm that information saying only, "they are imported, legally."Sloan, who has been working with skulls for about three months, said he sells them on eBay, the online auction Web site, primarily to doctors, medical students and collectors who have an interest in anatomy.He said when police questioned him about his qualifications to possess and sell such merchandise, he told them "one doesn't need qualifications to sell bones for medical study" on that Web site.According to eBay's Web site, "humans, the human body, or any human body parts" are banned from sale, with certain exceptions."Items that contain human hair (such as lockets) as well as skulls and skeletons that are used for medical purposes may be listed on eBay," the policy states. "eBay does not permit the sale of Native American skulls, bones or other Native American grave-related items, as the sale of such items may violate federal law."

Here's the extra (fake) leg I keep around my apartment. Hopefully no one will tell the police...