Key facts
- Harvard University will pay $53 million to settle lawsuits over the theft and sale of human remains.
- Former Harvard medical school morgue manager Cedric Lodge was sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing and selling body parts.
- The scheme involved the theft and sale of organs, skin, brains, and dissected heads from donated cadavers.
- Remains were transported from Boston to New Hampshire and Pennsylvania and resold for profit.
- Harvard Medical School will issue a statement affirming Lodge's conduct was 'morally reprehensible' and establish an annual financial aid scholarship for medical students.
Harvard University has agreed to pay $53 million to settle civil lawsuits stemming from the illegal theft and sale of human remains that had been donated to its medical school for scientific research. The settlement resolves claims that former Harvard medical school morgue manager Cedric Lodge, 58, stole and sold body parts, including organs, skin, brains, and dissected heads, from cadavers donated to the university between 2018 and March 2020.
Lodge was sentenced in December to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to the charges. His wife, Denise Lodge, 65, received a sentence of 12 months and one day for her involvement in the scheme. Prosecutors stated that the Lodges transported the stolen remains from Boston to their home in New Hampshire, from where they were shipped to buyers in other states, with many being resold for profit.
Several other defendants have also pleaded guilty and been sentenced in related cases. Affected families began filing lawsuits against Harvard in the summer of 2023, alleging negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and infliction of emotional distress. Harvard Medical School deans George Daley and Bernard Chang described Lodge's actions as an "abhorrent betrayal" and "morally reprehensible."
As part of the settlement, Harvard Medical School will issue a statement affirming that Lodge's conduct was inconsistent with the school's standards. The school will also establish an annual financial aid scholarship for medical students, intended to honor anatomical donors. Deans Daley and Chang noted that while the criminal case against Lodge is concluded and the settlement would conclude civil cases, the process of recovering from the incident continues, expressing deep sorrow and empathy for impacted families.