{"id":293432,"date":"2023-06-21T16:44:26","date_gmt":"2023-06-21T21:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=293432"},"modified":"2023-06-21T14:05:42","modified_gmt":"2023-06-21T19:05:42","slug":"harvard-medical-school-trafficking-human-body-parts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/harvard-medical-school-trafficking-human-body-parts\/","title":{"rendered":"Harvard Medical School under fire for the trafficking of human body parts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Harvard Medical School, one of the most respected institutions in the country, now finds itself embroiled in controversy due to accusations that a staff member has trafficked human body parts.<\/p>\n

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office<\/a>, Cedric Lodge previously worked as the morgue manager for Harvard Medical School. Part of Lodge’s job required that he oversee the “Anatomical Gifts Program,” which he reportedly used to obtain organs and other body parts. He and his wife, Denise, then allegedly sold them to a “nationwide network,” though only four other people have currently been charged.<\/p>\n

How the scheme worked<\/h3>\n

Some people opt to have their bodies donated to medical science, allowing medical students to study them and practice medical procedures; afterwards, those remains are supposed to be cremated and have the ashes returned to their families, or have the bodies buried in Harvard’s medical cemetery.<\/p>\n

Instead, Lodge allegedly saw an opportunity to make a profit.<\/p>\n

WARNING<\/span>: Screenshots below may be disturbing to some people.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Two people, Katrina Maclean and Joshua Taylor, were reportedly allowed to enter the morgue, examine the bodies for themselves, and decide which ones they wanted to buy. Afterwards, they sold the bodies to other people for a profit.<\/p>\n

Maclean is a Salem woman who owns a business called “Kat’s Creepy Creations<\/a>,” which was raided in March. Some of the items she allegedly bought included dissected faces for $600, which she planned to tan into leather. Though her business claimed she specialized in upcycling regular dolls into horror-themed creations, authorities say she was also storing and selling human remains through her business.<\/p>\n

Families affected by the case have since filed a class-action lawsuit<\/a> against Harvard Medical School, even though the press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office called the medical school a victim as well. The families clearly disagree.<\/p>\n

\u201cHarvard and HMS owed a duty of care to the families of those who donated their bodies,\u201d the filing reads. \u201cHarvard and HMS breached its duty of care and was negligent when it failed to take reasonable steps in the hiring, training, supervision, and retention of defendant Cedric Lodge.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Target<\/a><\/p>\n

Jeremy Pauley and preborn children<\/h3>\n

Another person facing charges from the U.S. Attorney’s Office is Jeremy Pauley<\/a>, a heavily tattooed man who identifies himself as a “lead preservation specialist of retired medical specimens and curator to historic remains and artifacts.”<\/p>\n

Another woman, Candace Chapman Scott, worked for a mortuary and crematorium in Little Rock, Arkansas; she stole body parts from bodies she was supposed to cremate, and sold them to Pauley. Though Pauley kept some of the remains he purchased, he also sold some for a profit, with Matthew Lampi named as a frequent partner.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Attorney’s Office noted that Pauley and Lampi sold body parts back and forth over “an extended period of time,” and exchanged upwards of $100,000 in payments.<\/p>\n

Pauley’s website raises many disturbing questions, as it contains numerous photos \u2014 virtually all of which appear to be babies, some of which were clearly not yet born when they died.<\/p>\n

Different tabs showcase various aspects of his “business,” which he claims include preservation work, plastination, and the Memento Mori Museum. He also has a tab announcing his latest endeavor, The Pauley Institute of Preservation. Additionally, he said he “intends on founding a department dedicated to the tanning of human leather adorned with tattoos for the purposes of mourning the dearly departed.”<\/p>\n

Yet virtually all of the photos on his website are not of adults, but of babies.<\/p>\n\n\t\t