Judge dismisses families' claims against Harvard in stolen bodies cases

A Suffolk Superior Court judge on Monday dismissed a dozen civil lawsuits against Harvard College that alleged its medical school mishandled and desecrated bodies donated to its scandal-plagued anatomical gift program.

Last year, federal authorities indicted Harvard's longtime morgue manager, Cedric Lodge, saying he ran a multi-year scheme to steal and sell body parts from donors who bequeathed their bodies to the school for research and educational purposes. Several close relatives of family members sued for negligence, claiming Harvard did not adequately supervise its program and violated its responsibility to protect their loved ones' remains.

According to court documents, at least 47 plaintiffs were involved in the 12 civil suits. Four of the suits also made claims against Mark Cicchetti and Tracey Fay, two employees who ran the medical school's anatomical gift program.

The ruling by Judge Kenneth Salinger upheld a "consolidated motion to dismiss" the suits against these defendants, in part citing the state's 1971 "Uniform Anatomical Gift Act" and its "qualified immunity" provision.

Salinger wrote that, under the provision, as long as the defendants "acted in good faith" to try to ensure human remains "were treated with respect and properly disposed of when no longer needed for educational or research purposes," they were immune from the suits.

"The Court will allow the motions to dismiss all claims against Harvard, Cicchetti, and Fay, 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," Salinger wrote, "or that they are legally responsible for Mr. Lodge's alleged misconduct."

The attorney for the families, Kathryn Barnett with the firm Morgan & Morgan, said in a statement Monday that the families were "disappointed" by the decision and planned to appeal.

"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," she wrote.