People are backing out of donating their bodies to Harvard after morgue scandal

Dozens of people have backed out of donating their bodies to Harvard Medical School in the year since a morgue manager was accused of stealing donor remains.

Charged last year in an alleged scheme to steal and sell donated human remains, former Harvard Medical School morgue manager Cedric Lodge is long gone from campus, his case now winding its way through federal court.

Through his alleged crimes, however, Lodge has seemingly left a lasting impact on Harvard Medical School’s Anatomical Gift Program: Over the past year, dozens of people have changed their plans to donate their bodies to Harvard, and new registrations have taken a slight dip.

Data provided by Harvard Medical School indicates 65 people have backed out of donating their bodies in the past year, compared to an average of nine in the four years prior. Likewise, the school saw 183 new donor registrations over the last year, compared to a four-year average of 216.

The spike in withdrawn donor enrollments was first reported by WBUR.

Lodge was charged alongside several alleged co-conspirators last summer and accused of stealing and selling dissected body parts from Harvard’s morgue, including heads, brains, skin, and bones. The ensuing scandal prompted several lawsuits from donors’ outraged family members, and Harvard Medical School turned to a panel of outside experts for a review of its Anatomical Gift Program.

“We owe it to our community, and especially to our anatomical donors and their loved ones, to ensure that Harvard is worthy of those who, through selfless generosity, have chosen and will in the future choose to advance medical education and research,” then-Harvard Provost Alan M. Garber and HMS Dean Dr. George Q. Daley said in a joint statement at the time.

They added: “An anatomical donation is among the most altruistic acts and deserves our attention and profound respect.”

In a statement this week, Harvard Medical School said it stopped accepting registered donor remains for about five months last year during the outside review, though there was no pause on new donor registrations.

Other medical schools around Massachusetts also accept body donations. A representative for Tufts University School of Medicine said registration data for the school’s Anatomical Gift Program is not public, while UMass Chan Medical School declined to comment on registration for its own program.

A spokesperson for Boston University’s Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine said BU’s Anatomical Gifts Program maintains a steady rate of registrations, receiving about 110 each year over the past three years. Only 14 people have revoked their registration since 2006, two of them in 2023, the spokesperson said.

In its statement, Harvard Medical School noted that the number of new donor registrations fluctuates from year to year and cautioned against attributing a rise in registrations at other institutions to Lodge’s alleged crimes.

Jury selection for Lodge’s criminal trial is scheduled to begin in early December, according to court records. His wife, Denise Lodge, was also charged in the alleged scheme and pleaded guilty in April to a charge of interstate transportation of stolen goods.