Harvard to pay $53 million over stolen body parts from donated cadavers
What's next: A Boston judge preliminarily approved the class settlement, which still needs final court approval.
Harvard University agreed to pay $53 million to settle lawsuits from families who said donated bodies at Harvard Medical School were mishandled and stripped of parts that were later sold on the black market. The proposed class-action deal was preliminarily approved in Boston on Aug. 18. The cases followed the 2023 arrest of former morgue manager Cedric Lodge, who prosecutors said stole heads, faces, brains, skin and hands from cadavers donated for medical research and education. Lodge later pleaded guilty and received an eight-year prison sentence, while his wife was also sentenced. The lawsuits accused Harvard of negligence and of failing to stop misconduct that plaintiffs said continued for years.