Harvard agrees to pay millions after morgue manager sold body parts
Harvard has agreed to pay $53 million (£39 million) to resolve lawsuits from families who alleged the university mishandled the bodies of loved ones donated to its medical school. The settlement, proposed in a Boston court on Monday, would end the suits filed against Harvard Medical School (HMS) after former morgue manager Cedric Lodge pleaded [...] The post Harvard agrees to pay millions after…
Harvard University has reached a $53 million settlement to resolve lawsuits from families who claimed the institution mishandled the bodies of loved ones donated for medical research. The agreement, proposed in a Boston court on Monday, aims to put an end to the lawsuits filed against Harvard Medical School (HMS) following the arrest and guilty plea of former morgue manager Cedric Lodge.
Lodge, 58, admitted to stealing and selling human remains on the black market between 2018 and 2021. The settlement funds will be established for the affected families once the court grants approval. Six other co-conspirators, who had no ties to Harvard, were also indicted and pleaded guilty in 2025. Lodge exploited his position as the manager of the "Anatomical Gifts Program" at the medical school to dismember donated cadavers.
The school uses these bodies for medical education, and upon completion, the cadavers are typically cremated, and remains returned to families or interred in the university's medical cemetery. Lodge and his wife sold the body parts to buyers in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, according to the indictment. Lodge received an eight-year prison sentence, while his wife received a one-year and one-day sentence.
In 2023, several civil lawsuits were filed against Harvard, alleging the university disregarded Lodge's misconduct for years. These cases were initially dismissed by a state court judge but were revived by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court last fall. Harvard and the plaintiffs both requested the court's approval of the $53 million class-action settlement agreement on Monday.
The university, in a letter signed by its dean of medicine George Daley and dean for medical education Bernard Chang, acknowledged Lodge's actions as morally reprehensible and inconsistent with Harvard's standards for handling anatomical donors and their families. Starting in 2027-2028, the medical school will create an annual scholarship for medical students in honor of all anatomical donors.
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