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Another lawsuit to be filed against Harvard in body part scandal
Nicholas and Joan Pichowicz were both "proud civil servants" who placed their trust in Harvard when donating their bodies, a lawyer for the late couple's family said.
The family of a New Hampshire couple who donated their bodies to Harvard Medical School says they plan to file a lawsuit against the college and the former morgue manager accused of stealing and selling body parts from cadavers.
A lawyer representing the family of Nicholas and Joan Pichowicz announced plans on Wednesday to file an emotional distress suit against HMS and Cedric Lodge, one of several alleged human remains traffickers charged in the scheme.
The Harvard morgue case:
Two of the couple’s daughters spoke to news outlets last week and expressed shock and disgust after learning that pieces of their father’s body were likely stolen. Nicholas Pichowicz donated his body for education and research upon his death in 2019; Joan Pichowicz died in March of this year — after prosecutors say the human remains trafficking scheme ceased operations.
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The Pichowiczs’ daughter Irene Ray had her world “shattered” after learning that her father “may have been a victim of this sickening black market theft ring at Harvard,” the family’s lawyer, Thomas Flaws, said in a statement.
“Two of the most noble acts in life are to become an organ donor and to donate your body to science in the hopes of saving another,” said Flaws, with Altman Nussbaum Shunnarah Trial Attorneys. “Nicholas and Joan Pichowicz were proud civil servants who placed their trust in Harvard University and Harvard Medical School to use their remains for the betterment of society, and to save lives. Harvard betrayed that trust.”
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Harvard Medical School told Boston.com it does not comment on pending litigation. The school has previously said it had no prior knowledge of the alleged criminal activities until notified by the FBI in March.
“Investigators believe that what occurred was the result of an individual acting alone, without the knowledge or cooperation of anyone else at HMS or Harvard,” a FAQ page reads.
In addition to the upcoming Pichowicz lawsuit, the son of a woman whose body was donated to HMS filed a class-action lawsuit against the school and Lodge last week.
“Harvard’s complete lack of oversight and control over a period of five years at its medical school is shocking, and the entire community deserves answers,” Flaws said. “We intend to hold all parties involved accountable for the mental anguish and emotional distress that Harvard and its employees savagely inflicted on [the] Pichowicz family.”
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