Harvard will pay $53 million ($39 million) to settle lawsuits filed by families who alleged that the university mishandled bodies donated to its medical school. The settlement, proposed in a Boston court on Monday, resolves claims against Harvard Medical School (HMS) after former morgue manager Cedric Lodge pleaded guilty to stealing and selling human remains on the black market.
Lodge, 58, took parts from cadavers and sold them online in a scheme that ran from 2018 to 2021. Harvard said in a letter that multi-million dollar settlement funds will be made available to families once the court approves the agreement.
Lodge and six other co-conspirators who had no connection to Harvard were indicted and pleaded guilty in 2025. Prosecutors alleged that Lodge used his role as manager of the "Anatomical Gifts Program" to dismember donated bodies that were used by students for medical training.
When HMS finished using cadavers, they were usually cremated and the remains returned to families, or buried in the university’s medical cemetery, according to the indictment.
Lodge and his wife sold body parts to buyers in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, the indictment says. He received an eight-year prison sentence in December, while his wife was sentenced to a year and one day.
In 2023, civil suits were filed against Harvard alleging that the university ignored Lodge’s misconduct for years until his indictment. Although originally dismissed by a state court judge, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court revived the lawsuits last fall.
The settlement, valued at $53 million, is now being pursued by a class-action agreement asking the court for approval. Harvard’s letter, signed by George Daley, dean of the faculty of medicine, and Bernard Chang, dean for medical education, stated: "Lodge’s criminal acts were morally reprehensible and inconsistent with the standards Harvard University and HMS expect for the treatment of anatomical donors and their families."
Starting in the 2027‑2028 academic year, the medical school will establish an annual scholarship for medical students "in appreciation and in honor of all our anatomical donors." The letter also said the process of recovering from this painful incident continues, even as settlement concludes the case.
