BOSTON — Harvard University has reached a $53 million class action settlement over the scandal involving the alleged trafficking of human remains donated to Harvard Medical School’s Anatomical Gift Program, according to Keches Law Group, which represented plaintiffs in the litigation.
The case arose from the conduct of former Harvard Medical School morgue manager Cedric Lodge, who was criminally charged in connection with the unlawful sale of donated human remains and later pleaded guilty.
The settlement is intended to compensate families whose loved ones donated their bodies to Harvard for medical education and scientific research and whose remains may have been improperly handled or sold.
Keches Law Group attorneys Jonathan Sweet, Jeffrey Catalano and Leo Boyle played leading roles in the litigation, including arguments before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
The state’s highest court issued a ruling in the case that addressed the legal duties of institutions entrusted with donated human remains.
“This case was always about more than financial compensation,” Catalano said. “It was about dignity, trust, and ensuring that families who make the extraordinary decision to donate a loved one’s body to medical science can be confident that their loved one will be treated with respect.”
Catalano said the precedent established in the litigation could help protect families and donated remains at medical schools and other institutions across Massachusetts.
Sweet said Harvard cooperated in reaching a resolution of the litigation and acknowledged the harm suffered by families whose relatives’ remains were implicated in the scandal.
The settlement, together with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling, is aimed at strengthening safeguards surrounding anatomical gift programs and the handling of human remains donated for medical education and research.
