Home / Crime and Justice / Harvard Pays $53M Over Stolen Human Remains
Harvard Pays $53M Over Stolen Human Remains
18 Aug
Summary
- Harvard settled a lawsuit for $53 million over stolen body parts.
- A former morgue manager stole and sold body parts for profit.
- Donated bodies were illegally trafficked nationwide.
Harvard University has agreed to pay a $53 million settlement to resolve civil lawsuits concerning the illegal theft and sale of human remains. These remains were donated to the university's medical school for scientific research.
The scandal involved Cedric Lodge, a former Harvard medical school morgue manager, who was sentenced in December last year to eight years in prison. He pleaded guilty to stealing and selling human body parts, including organs, skin, brains, and dissected heads from cadavers.
Prosecutors stated that the thefts occurred from 2018 through at least March 2020. Lodge transported the stolen remains from the Boston morgue to his home in New Hampshire, where he and his wife, Denise Lodge, would ship them to buyers across various states, including Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
His wife also received a prison sentence of 12 months and one day for her involvement in the black market scheme. Several other defendants have also pleaded guilty and been sentenced in related cases.
As part of the settlement, Harvard Medical School will issue a statement acknowledging Lodge's actions as "morally reprehensible" and outlining changes to its Anatomical Gift Program. The school will also establish an annual financial aid scholarship for medical students. Affected families filed lawsuits in the summer of 2023, alleging negligence and emotional distress.
