Harvard settles $53M body parts theft with families

Harvard Medical School agreed to pay $53 million to settle lawsuits over the theft and sale of donated body parts by a former morgue manager, the school announced Tuesday.

Deans George Q. Daley and Bernard S. Chang said in a letter to the community that the actions of Cedric Lodge were "despicable, abhorrent, and a flagrant betrayal of our values as a medical community." The settlement, pending court approval, creates two class action funds totaling $53 million. A Harvard Medical School spokesperson confirmed the letter but had no additional details.

The lawsuits were filed by 47 relatives of people whose remains were donated for research and education. Harvard said it cannot determine precisely which donors Lodge stole from. The settlement covers families of donors who gave their bodies to the Anatomical Gift Program between Jan. 1, 2018 and March 31, 2023.

Lodge was sentenced to eight years in prison last year for stealing and selling body parts. Authorities described a scheme in which he shipped brains, skin, hands and faces from cadavers to buyers in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. His wife, Denise Lodge, received just over a year in prison for assisting him. Six other people who bought remains from Lodge also pleaded guilty and were sentenced.