Harvard Pays $53 Million Over Stolen Body Parts
Former medical school morgue director stole and sold donated body parts for years, and the university is now trying to resolve lawsuits from outraged families.
Former medical school morgue director stole and sold donated body parts for years, and the university is now trying to resolve lawsuits from outraged families.
Index.hr reports that Harvard University has agreed to pay $53 million to settle lawsuits with families whose relatives donated their bodies to the Medical School for scientific research and education, only to have their parts stolen and sold on the illegal market.
The proposed settlement was filed in federal court in Boston and is still awaiting approval. Harvard and the plaintiffs' attorneys have proposed creating two funds totaling $53 million from which members of the class action would be paid, and the entire process could take several months. According to a report published on August 19, 2026, the Boston court reportedly approved the settlement on Tuesday.
At the center of the scandal is Cedric Lodge, the former morgue manager at Harvard Medical School. According to U.S. prosecutors, from 2018 to 2022, he stole body parts that were intended for medical research and teaching and were supposed to be cremated.
Among the stolen parts were organs, brains, skin, hands, faces, and skull fragments. Lodge transported some of the stolen remains to his home in New Hampshire, where he and his wife, Denise, sold these parts to buyers. In some cases, he allowed buyers to enter the Harvard morgue and examine the bodies themselves.
Harvard University emphasizes that all these events occurred without the knowledge or consent of the Medical School, and Lodge's behavior was deemed completely contrary to the institution's principles. Lodge received an eight-year prison sentence in December of last year, while his wife, Denise, was sentenced to one year and one day. Katrina Maclean, one of the participants in the resale chain, received a two-year prison sentence today for purchasing body parts stolen from Harvard and reselling them.
George Daley, Dean of the Medical School, and Bernard Chang, Dean for Medical Education, described Lodge's actions in a joint letter as "appalling, abhorrent, and a flagrant betrayal of our values as a medical community." They also stated: "We are grateful to be able to work with prosecutors to move forward in a way that prioritizes support for families and the organ donation program and avoids prolonged litigation."
After the case came to light in 2023, 47 family members of donors filed a total of 12 lawsuits against Harvard. The allegations included claims that the university failed to provide adequate oversight of the morgue and did not establish mechanisms to prevent the theft and trafficking of human body parts.
A judge initially dismissed their lawsuits in 2024, ruling that Harvard was protected from liability if it had attempted in good faith to comply with the body donation law. However, the highest court in Massachusetts overturned that decision in October of last year, allowing the legal process to continue, concluding that the families had provided sufficient evidence that Harvard may not have acted in good faith.
The settlement does not only provide for monetary compensation. Harvard has promised to present families with a document condemning Lodge's actions as unacceptable and to inform them of the measures implemented in the body donation program since the scandal.
The Medical School also announced plans to introduce an annual scholarship starting in the 2027/2028 academic year, dedicated to all individuals who donated their bodies for medical education and research. Harvard further emphasizes that it has implemented recommendations from independent experts who analyzed the program's functioning after the scandal was revealed. Under the settlement plan, the school will also provide affected families with a statement condemning Lodge's crimes and outlining the changes made to the anatomical donation program.
