On 16 June Harvard Medical School (HMS) expressed 'sadness and distress' that their morgue manager Cedric Lodge had sold bodies donated for research on the black market. A federal grand jury charged him and four others with conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods. The son of a woman whose body was donated to HMS for scientific research filed a class-action lawsuit in the Suffolk Superior Court in Boston. It could include the families of 400 people who donated corpses. Lodge allegedly allowed some prospective customers to come to the morgue in person, to select which remains they wished to buy, and took home other body parts or posted them through the mail. Bodies donated to the medical school should only be reserved for research or teaching purposes. Once they are used, the remains are often cremated and returned to their families for burial.
USA: Harvard morgue manager sold body parts
Written by David Fletcher 23 Jun 2023Additional Info
- Pray: for the corpses’ relatives to be supported emotionally through the stress of the trial, and for people not to be deterred from donating their bodies to advance medical research. (Psalm 23:4)
- More: www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/6/16/alleged-body-part-theft-by-harvard-morgue-manager-spurs-lawsuit
Tagged under