Could this be our last beach day of the year? Hope you didn't pack away that bathing suit too early. But first, let's dive into the news: New life: The state's highest court yesterday revived a dozen lawsuits filed against Harvard Medical School in connection with the gruesome thefts of body parts from the school's morgue. Families of those who had donated their bodies for students to learn from filed the lawsuits two years ago. They alleged Harvard failed to supervise their then-morgue manager, Cedric Lodge, who was charged with taking home heads, brains, skin and bones from the cadavers, and selling them to collectors. The cases were dismissed last year by a lower court judge, who said Harvard was protected from liability under a state law governing organ and body donation. But the Supreme Judicial Court disagreed yesterday, saying Harvard exhibited "extraordinary failure" to supervise the morgue. (Harvard said in a statement that Lodge's actions were "abhorrent," and reiterated he acted alone, without the school's knowledge.) - Catch up: The case broke way back in June 2023, when federal prosecutors announced charges against Lodge, his wife and several others. They were part of a "nationwide network" of human remains traders, prosecutors said. Lodge has since pleaded guilty, as have several others. He's facing up to 10 years in prison. (Curious who was buying this stuff? Check out this story I wrote about the marketplace for human remains.)
- Dive in: The SJC's decision details some of the ways Harvard failed to supervise the morgue — and Lodge. Among them: ignoring the license plate on his orange Subaru Crosstrek: GRIM-R (as in, the Grim Reaper). That "revealed an unprofessional insensitivity given his position in a medical school morgue," Justice Scott Kafker wrote.
- What's next? The cases now go back to the Superior Court, according to Kathryn Barnett, an attorney I spoke with representing some of the families. She is waiting to get documents from Harvard, like Lodge's personnel file, to hopefully learn more about why he had two separate stints on leave from Harvard — including one two weeks before the university was notified by the feds about the crimes.
- Still grieving: The families of donors were thrilled to see the SJC decision in their favor. But the case is still a reminder of their loss. "It's like the rewind button keeps getting hit on my grieving process," said Lara Szent-Gyorgi, whose mom, Gwen, died in 2017 and went to Harvard. "She would've just been horrified to know that this happened."
- Want more? I hosted a five-part podcast series for WBUR on the whole Harvard morgue case, tackling big questions like how should we treat the dead. Listen to Last Seen: Postmortem wherever you get your podcasts.
One more loss for Team Artie T.: Yet another Market Basket executive is out amid the ongoing struggle for the future of the beloved regional grocery chain. Sue Dufresne was fired by the company's board of directors last week after 30 years with the finance team. - What the board says: They claim Dufrense disclosed confidential company information to the press, and was motivated by her "dedication to Mr. [Arthur T.] Demoulas."
- What she says: "I stood up for the truth because the entire Market Basket community deserves nothing less."
- Meanwhile, the ousted CEO is fighting for his job back in a Delaware court.
125(ish) days until pitchers and catchers: While the MLB playoffs continue without them, the Red Sox organization is looking to next year. Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow said at a press conference yesterday he's happy with this year's squad, but there's room to improve. " Our hope is we're going to find ourselves eight months from now ... with a really good team that we believe in," he told reporters. In particular, we're watching third baseman Alex Bregman; he can opt out of his contract this winter. P.S— Everywhere you go, there are signs of the influence of video games. But you have to know where to look. Endless Thread and 99% Invisible have a new series out today about how games have quietly changed our world. |
