Harvard agrees to $53 million settlement over body parts stolen and sold by former morgue manager

On August 20, 2026, Harvard Medical School announced it had agreed to pay $53 million to settle class action lawsuits brought by relatives of body donors whose remains were allegedly stolen and sold by former morgue manager Cedric Lodge. In a letter to the community, Harvard Medical School Deans George Q. Daley and Bernard S. Chang described Lodge's actions as "despicable, abhorrent, and a flagrant betrayal of our values as a medical community."

The settlement funds will be established pending court approval and will cover two class action lawsuits filed by 47 relatives of people whose remains were potentially mishandled and sold. The remains were initially donated for research and education purposes. Harvard has stated it cannot definitively identify which donors' remains Lodge stole.

Following Lodge's arrest in 2023, the school conducted an investigation using federal investigators' information and records of donor remains' transportation and Lodge's presence on campus. The settlement applies to relatives or designees of individuals who donated their remains to Harvard Medical School between January 1, 2018, and March 31, 2023.

In 2024, Lodge received an eight-year prison sentence for stealing and selling body parts as if they were valuable items. His wife, Denise Lodge, served just over a year in prison for assisting him. Six other individuals who purchased remains from Cedric Lodge also pleaded guilty and received sentences.