Harvard to pay $53 million after body parts taken from medical-school morgue were sold

Harvard University has agreed to pay $53 million to resolve lawsuits brought by families who donated relatives' bodies to the Harvard Medical School for research and teaching, after parts of those bodies were stolen and sold on the black market.

The proposed settlement, filed in state court in Boston, would create two funds totaling $53 million to compensate members of the class action; the deal still requires judicial approval and the process could take several months.

Details of the alleged scheme

At the center of the scandal is Cedric Lodge, the former head of the Harvard Medical School morgue. U.S. prosecutors say that between 2018 and 2022 he removed parts of donated bodies — including organs, brains, skin, hands, faces and portions of heads — before they were to be cremated, taking some remains to his home in New Hampshire and selling them with the help of his wife.

Prosecutors say Lodge and his wife sometimes allowed customers into the Harvard morgue to inspect the bodies. Lodge was sentenced to eight years in prison in December last year; his wife, Denise, received one year and one day. One person involved in the resale network, Katrina McLean, was sentenced today to two years in prison.

The scandal became public in 2023. In that year, 47 family members of donors filed a total of 12 lawsuits against Harvard, alleging the university failed to properly oversee the morgue and did not establish safeguards to prevent theft and resale of body parts. A judge initially dismissed the suits in 2024, ruling Harvard enjoyed protection if it made a good-faith effort to comply with donation laws; however, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court last October overturned that decision and allowed the litigation to proceed, finding the families had raised sufficient claims that Harvard may not have acted in good faith.

Under the settlement Harvard has also agreed to deliver a statement to families condemning Lodge’s conduct as unacceptable and to inform them about changes made to the body-donation program since the scandal. The Medical School said it will introduce an annual scholarship starting in the 2027/2028 academic year in honor of people who donated their bodies for education and research, and that it has implemented recommendations from independent reviewers who examined the program after the affair surfaced.

Photo: EPA-EFE/CJ GUNTHER