Court Rules Harvard University Can Be Sued Over Stolen Body Parts

On October 6, 2025, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued a landmark ruling in Weiss v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, allowing key claims against Harvard University and its senior program director to move forward.

MBBB is part of the legal team that represents families who entrusted their loved ones’ remains to the Harvard Medical School Anatomical Gift Program for medical education and research. In 2023, federal prosecutors unsealed criminal charges revealing that a former morgue employee at Harvard had engaged in a years-long scheme to steal and sell dissected body parts from donated cadavers — acts described by federal authorities as both criminal and deeply disturbing.

Following this revelation, dozens of families filed suit against Harvard and senior administrators responsible for the program, alleging gross mismanagement and a complete breakdown of oversight that allowed the illegal trafficking of human remains to persist unchecked for years.

The Court’s Ruling

The Court found that the plaintiffs had alleged “peculiarly pervasive noncompliance” with the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, sufficient to overcome Harvard’s and its director’s claimed immunity under the statute’s “good faith” provision.

Specifically, the Court held:

• Harvard and its managing director may be held liable for systemic failures to supervise the morgue and protect donated remains.
• The plaintiffs sufficiently alleged facts showing a lack of good faith, including prolonged misconduct, ignored red flags, and a failure to implement basic safeguards — despite knowledge of nearly identical prior scandals at other institutions.
• Claims against a lower-level administrator were properly dismissed, as the Court found no specific allegations of her involvement or oversight responsibilities.

This decision ensures that the families’ claims will proceed to the next stage of litigation, where Harvard’s actions — and inactions — will be examined in detail.

This ruling is a crucial step toward accountability. Donor families placed their trust in Harvard’s promise of respectful and dignified treatment of their loved ones. That trust was betrayed. We are proud to stand with these families in their pursuit of justice.