Harvard organ donation scandal: university to compensate families with $53 million

Harvard University has agreed to pay $53 million to settle a series of lawsuits filed by family members who had donated their relatives’ bodies for medical and scientific research.

The case is linked to a scandal at Harvard Medical School, where the institution was accused by families of gross negligence and abusive treatment of donated bodies.

The scandal came to light after the activities of Cedric Lodge, Harvard’s former morgue director and head of the Anatomical Gift Program, were uncovered. According to authorities, from 2018 to 2021, Lodge removed organs from bodies donated for educational and research purposes and then put them up for sale online on the black market.

Lodge and six other people who were not affiliated with the university were involved in the case. Lodge was sentenced to eight years in prison, while his wife received a sentence of one year and one day in prison. The other people involved pleaded guilty in 2025.

The families’ civil lawsuits against Harvard were initially dismissed, but the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that they should be reinstated. According to the court, the university had failed to intervene for an extended period in response to violations committed by Lodge.

The agreement, filed in a Boston court, provides for the establishment of special funds worth millions of dollars to compensate the affected families.

George Daly and Bernard Chang, the deans of Harvard Medical School and medical education, said in a joint letter that Lodge’s actions were “morally reprehensible and contrary to the institution’s standards.”

Harvard also announced that it would establish an annual scholarship for medical students. The program will begin in the 2027–2028 academic year and will be dedicated to people who donated their bodies in support of education and scientific research.

The university said the agreement brings the legal proceedings to an end, but that the emotional recovery of the affected families and the academic community will take time.