Body parts trafficking case: Massachusetts judge dismisses claims against Harvard

A Suffolk Superior Court judge dismissed the combined family lawsuit against Harvard University related to a human body parts trafficking ring connected to its medical school morgue.

The suit combined 12 separate lawsuits filed on behalf of relatives of people who donated their bodies to the Harvard Medical School Anatomical Gifts program, in which the bodies would be used to train future doctors at the renowned school. The judge dismissed the claims against Harvard University as well as the managers of the Anatomical Gifts Program — March Cicchetti and Tracey Fay.

Most of the suits also targeted Cedric Lodge, the former morgue manager at the heart of the disturbing allegations, and some other defendants. Complaints can stand against Lodge and non-Harvard Medical School-related defendants.

Superior Court Justice Kenneth W. Singer, in his Monday ruling, wrote that he allowed Harvard University’s motions to dismiss the claims “because the factual allegations in the complaints do not plausibly suggest that these Harvard Defendants failed to act in good faith in receiving and handling the donated bodies, or that they are legally responsible for Mr. Lodge’s alleged misconduct.”

The chief plaintiff lawyer in the now-dismissed suit, which combined 12 lawsuits representing 47 plaintiffs, promised in a statement that she would appeal the decision.

“We are disappointed in the Court’s decision. These families have had to relive the trauma of losing their loved ones many times over, and we strongly believe that they deserve a day in court,” attorney Kathryn Barnett, of national law firm Morgan & Morgan, said. “We will appeal this ruling and keep fighting for them to win justice.”

A Harvard Medical School spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. The school has previously said that it does not comment on pending litigation and the criminal suit against Lodge and others is still pending in federal court.

Justice Singer, across the 18-page document, argues that even if every allegation brought in the complaints were factually true, Harvard itself has wide protections under the 1971 Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, which governs the system of anatomical gifts in Massachusetts and was last revised in 2012.

“The Harvard Defendants are entitled to dismissal of all claims against them because those claims are barred by the UAGA grant of qualified statutory immunity so long as the Harvard Defendants made a good faith attempt to comply with the requirements of the UAGA,” Singer writes, “… the facts alleged also make clear that the Harvard Defendants are not vicariously liable for the alleged misconduct of the former manager of the HMS morgue, and thus cannot lose their qualified immunity based on his bad acts.”

The allegations against Lodge and five others in the accused body parts trafficking ring were disclosed last June by the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, in a suit claiming the existence of a “nationwide network of individuals bought and sold human remains stolen from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas mortuary.”

Prosecutors in the federal suit say that Lodge from 2018 through 2022 would even let potential buyers into the school to look at body’s and select parts to buy. It is in these type of actions that Singer says Lodge acted well outside the scope of his employment.

“The plaintiffs’ factual allegations do not plausibly suggest that Lodge’s actions in marketing, stealing, and selling human body parts were motivated, even in small part, by a purpose to serve the interests of HMS,” Singer wrote. “To the contrary, Lodge’s horrifying scheme was allegedly undertaken for purely personal gain and could not possibly have been of any benefit to HMS or furthered the interests of HMS in any way. Plaintiffs therefore may not rely upon Lodge’s alleged misconduct to defeat Harvard’s qualified immunity.”