WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (Legal Newsline) - The wife of a former morgue manager at Harvard Medical School caught in an organ-harvesting scandal has pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges, while civil lawsuits against the school are crumbling.
Denise Lodge's Feb. 21 plea agreement says she is pleading guilty to a count of interstate transport of stolen goods. She faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
The government can make a sentencing recommendation to Pennsylvania federal judge Matthew Brann. Lodge can't withdraw her plea if she is unhappy with Brann's decision.
Former morgue manager Cedric Lodge and four others at Harvard are accused of selling heads, brains, skin, bones and other human remains from the corpses of people who donated their bodies to science. They face federal indictments that were announced in June.
A dozen civil lawsuits in Massachusetts' Suffolk County Superior Court sought compensation for the emotional toll on family members' who learned their loved ones were cut apart and sold on the black market. Forty-seven plaintiffs in total were named.
But claims against Harvard and two employees (not Cedric Lodge) in the Anatomical Gift Program were tossed in a Feb. 12 order by Justice Kenneth Salinger.
"(T)he 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," his ruling says.
"It may not seem fair that Harvard can avoid responsibility and liability in this case even if, as plaintiffs allege, it was negligent in overseeing the HMS morgue and as a result let Lodge get away with stealing body parts for years.
"But the Court must follow the clear command of the (Uniform Anatomical Gift Act) immunity provision. Like all statutes, this immunity provision implements a legislative policy judgment that the Court must enforce without questioning whether it is wise, effective or sound policy."
One lawsuit attempted to show Harvard should have known Lodge was trouble by noting his personalized license plate that read "Grim-R." It also included a photo of Lodge dressed as an undertaker and said his ghoulish behavior was "in plain sight."
"The Grim Reaper posted images of himself dressed up in the garb of an undertaker in a Dickens novel with a black top hat and overcoat," the suit said. "His license plate and open association with macabre hobbies revealed his view of his job at the morgue as a backdrop for his fantasies instead of a place of reverence and respect.
"This 'undertaker' invited his cohorts who fetishized human body parts to the morgue to shop. The Grim Reaper publicized his mocking moniker all while treating the morgue as an amusement park attraction for his friends and customers."
Despite this, Harvard continued to give Lodge "unfettered access" to human remains.
"HMS failed to supervise and monitor their employee and failed to establish and/or enforce basic precautions that would have prevented the establishment and operation of a body parts bazaar within their facility," the suit said.
Cedric Lodge's current tentative trial date is Aug. 5.