Harvard University has agreed a $53m out-of-court settlement, bringing an end to a series of lawsuits filed by families of body donors, the BBC has reported. The families accused Harvard Medical School (HMS) of gross negligence and mishandling the remains of their loved ones.

The case came to light when the actions of the former manager of Harvard Medical School’s morgue, Cedric Lodge, were exposed. Lodge, 58, abused his position within the university’s Anatomical Gift Programme to dismember bodies donated for teaching and research purposes between 2018 and 2021, selling the body parts online on the black market. The illegal operation, which sent human remains to buyers in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, also involved his wife along with six other people outside the university.

Lodge was sentenced to eight years in prison, while his wife received a year and a day. The remaining defendants pleaded guilty in 2025. Although the families’ civil lawsuits against the university had initially been dismissed, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court reinstated them, ruling that Harvard had overlooked Lodge’s violations for years.

Under the agreement filed with a Boston court, the same BBC report notes, Harvard will set up dedicated multimillion-dollar compensation funds for victims’ relatives. In a joint letter, HMS dean George Daley and dean for medical education Bernard Chang described Lodge’s actions as “morally repugnant and incompatible with the standards of our institution.”

To honour the memory of the donors, the school also announced it would establish an annual scholarship for medical students from the 2027-2028 academic year, stressing that although the legal process has concluded, the healing process for families and the academic community remains long.