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Harvard Medical School reserves the right, at any time, to decline a particular anatomical gift for any reason. The School has an ongoing need for donations and carefully reviews all possibilities for utilizing donations for purposes of education, research and the advancement of medical or dental science or therapy.
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Private donation is the only source of Harvard Medical School’s anatomical gifts. Any person of sound mind who is over 18 years of age can register to donate his/her body for education, research, and the advancement of medical and dental science or therapy (Chapter 113, §§ 7-14 of the General Laws of Massachusetts).
Anatomical Gift Program Harvard Medical School 260 Longwood Avenue Boston, Massachusetts 02115 Phone: 617-432-1735 Fax: 617-432-7593 agp@hms.harvard.edu
Dec 7, 2023 · Separate from the criminal investigation into Cedric Lodge’s activities and as part of its oversight of Harvard Medical School, the Harvard University Office of the President and Provost appointed a panel of three outside experts to evaluate the Anatomical Gift Program and related policies and practices, with the goal of providing constructive feedback and recommendations to ensure that the ...
- I. INTRODUCTION
- A. Body Donation Program background
- CHARGE AND SCOPE
- PANEL REVIEW PROCESS
- FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
- 3. Registration Process
- B. Information security and privacy practices in the operation of the AGP
- 1. Employee Screening and Training
- 2. Position Requirements and Review
- E. Adequacy of current staffing of the morgue and AGP
- F. Physical environment of the working areas of the morgue, including adequacy of equipment and the location of staff members’ and supervisors’ offices in relation to the location(s) in which donors are prepared for study.
- G. Reporting structure within HMS for the morgue and AGP
- 1. Operational Committee
- A governing board should be established and should be responsible for long-term oversight.
- 1. Tracking and identification
- 2. Requests for use of donors
- 4. Donor use and student training
- The Panel recommends that donor location reconciliation should be a regular activity, occurring at established time intervals and at a specific stage of the donor's residency in the
- J. Security of morgue operations, including possible mechanisms of electronic and other surveillance of daily operations
- K. Reporting of adverse events and quality improvement processes
- L. Screening and monitoring of external vendors for transport and disposition of donors and human remains
- M. Additional Subjects for Consideration
- V. CONCLUSION
This report has been prepared at the request of Harvard University (“Harvard” or the “University”) as an assessment of the Harvard Anatomical Gift Program (the “AGP”). The AGP is organized within the Program in Medical Education (the “PME”) at the Harvard Medical School (“HMS”) and serves to support HMS, the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, resid...
Formalized body donation programs began in academic institutions in the United States in the middle of the 20th century and fostered a process by which individuals can gift their bodies to science. The purpose of these programs has been to ensure that adequate teaching and research resources are available to meet an institution’s mission and goals,...
This Panel is charged with assessing current practices and operations of the AGP to identify areas for improvement to conform to current best practices. The Panel consists of the following members: Sally Aiken, M.D., Retired Chief Medical Examiner, Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office, Member of the Federal Forensic Sciences Standards Board Rob...
To meet these goals, the Panel’s assessment process involved multiple stakeholder interviews, review of pertinent literature, standards, and AGP documents. The Panel visited the AGP facility in person in July 2023 to observe the facilities and processes and to conduct additional interviews. The Panel also evaluated floor plans, organizational chart...
A. Appropriateness of the AGP’s operations and consent processes
The Panel recommends the appointment of a Medical Director to advise on matters of donor eligibility and suitability. Within the anatomical gift field, donor eligibility usually refers to characteristics known about a potential donor in life that may preclude donation. Suitability for use is usually determined at the time of death through a series ...
The Panel recommends further review and assessment of AGP information security processes to ensure proper safeguards for personally identifiable information stored in hard copy. Hard-copy registration and donation records are stored in the AGP offices. The hard copies contain donor personal information, and access is by key to the AGP offices and f...
Given privacy considerations and the preciousness of the donor resources, as a matter of best practice and to the extent not occurring, the Panel recommends that staff receive routine training in ethical values and conduct and acknowledge their understanding of these responsibilities both at hire and annually thereafter. Going forward, the AGP shou...
The Panel recommends that Harvard review and update job descriptions and job duties of the three current AGP employees. The Panel observed that job descriptions for each of the three positions are not up to date and should be revised to reflect the current responsibilities of each employee. HMS employs three full-time staff members in the AGP, i.e....
The Panel recommends that the AGP consider hiring a dedicated anatomy laboratory technician. AGP staff currently perform some duties that would more typically be the role of laboratory technician in a gross anatomy teaching laboratory. A laboratory technician in such a role could support faculty donor use requests and perform class scheduling. Addi...
The Panel recommends that the current Staff Assistant be housed in office space outside of the morgue to minimize potential chemical exposure. The AGP facility is located on the HMS campus with lab and office space spread across different floors in the same building. The AGP Managing Director and the AGP Manager have offices located in an administr...
The Panel recommends that the AGP Managing Director report directly to the Dean for Medical Education or a designee; and that the HMS implement a two-tiered oversight system: (1) a smaller operational committee and (2) a governing board. The general placement of the AGP in the Harvard Medical School PME is a good fit for the program overall, howeve...
An operational committee should be created and should be responsible for ensuring regulatory compliance and adherence to best practices in body donation on a day-to-day basis. The operational committee should include supervisors who have directly relevant knowledge and are capable of providing supervision for the facilities, labs, and the morgue wh...
The Panel recommends that a governing body meet annually, or more often as needed, to receive reports on the AGP, advise on long-term strategies, and provide subject matter expertise for new and ongoing items of interest. Examples of governing board members include: Dean for Medical Education or their designee AGP Managing Director Medical Director...
The Panel recommends that a consistent protocol be applied for donor identity verification at intake into the AGP; and, with IT assistance, that real-time donor and specimen location tracking shift entirely to an electronic system. The identity of all donors should be verified, by matching the identity tag on the donor with the accompanying paperwo...
The Panel finds that the AGP would benefit from ensuring a formal written standardized procedure for receiving, reviewing, and approving requests for use of donors. The current practice for obtaining specimens is that the requestor notifies the AGP Managing Director verbally or through email regarding the number of students or donor bodies needed. ...
The Panel recommends a more formal discussion with students about regulations for anatomical gifts (e.g., consent considerations in the Massachusetts UAGA), policies or practices that govern the AGP, and comprehensive laboratory rules. HMS anatomy faculty have expertise and are widely recognized for their work integrating ethics and professional co...
AGP. The AGP staff members periodically reconcile donor locations (i.e., location of the body) with the database, but there is not an established schedule for these reconciliation activities. Currently, two AGP staff members, working together, perform inventory/reconciliation of donors. For improved security, inventory practices should be subjected...
The Panel recommends that: (1) ongoing projects that add and upgrade cameras in the morgue and anatomy laboratory areas be completed; (2) all key locks be re-keyed; and (3) any keys be assigned to specific individuals and kept in secure locations. Although the Panel recognizes that the security practices have been expanded and enhanced since the al...
AGP should develop a formal monitoring process for documenting any reported deviations from standards, subsequent investigations, and the outcome of such review. As discussed above, the Panel recommends updating existing AGP policies and procedures. As a part of this effort, AGP should develop a formal monitoring procedure for documenting deviation...
AGP should consider using a contracted body removal service that is operated under standardized terms and conditions negotiated with HMS. Currently, at the time of death and acceptance, the donor’s next of kin are directed to contact a funeral home of their choice. If the next of kin inquires, the AGP provides the names of two funeral homes to the ...
The Panel believes that memorial services should be organized to consider the impact that donation and donors may have on the greater community. This includes the impact on families of donors; the beneficiaries of the donations (such as faculty, researchers, staff, and students); institutions and organizations; the broader education and research co...
This report summarizes the Panel’s key findings and recommendations related to the AGP. The Panel recommends that AGP engage in process improvement efforts to review, develop, and revise policies and procedures specific to the AGP; implement an oversight and governance structure (i.e., an operational committee and governing board); enhance routine ...
Dec 7, 2023 · Harvard University initiated an independent review of our Anatomical Gift Program after we learned from the U.S. Attorney’s Office about allegations of criminal activity within the program, which led to the indictment and arrest of Cedric Lodge, a former staff member in the HMS morgue, on June 14, 2023.
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The Division of Medical Sciences is the administrative centralized home for all Harvard PhD students located at HMS. There are many resources available to these students on the the DMS website. Division of Medical Sciences
