Since news of the scandal concerning the UCLA willed body
program broke last spring, the program has been temporarily
suspended as officials, faculty, staff and students await a report
that will determine its future.
The report was scheduled to be released this fall, but
“may not come out until January,” wrote UCLA Health
Sciences Spokeswoman Roxanne Moster in an e-mail.
The alleged illegal commercialization of human body parts, which
took place in the basements of UCLA, led to arrests and a hold on
the program which accepts donated bodies for the purposes of using
them as cadavers.
The scandal, which has been out of the public eye for some
months, will soon take center stage once again.
Former Governor George Deukmejian is overseeing an independent
investigation of the program and his findings will determine the
future of the program.
Moster declined to comment further on the situation since
“there is no new news to report on the willed body
program,” she wrote.
The scandal gained national attention when university police
first arrested Henry Reid, director of the willed body program, on
March 6 for investigation of grand theft.
Certain individuals within the willed body program were
suspected of selling body parts which had been donated for purposes
of education and research.
At a press conference held days after the arrests of Reid and
Ernest Nelson ““ a non-UCLA employee arrested for receiving
known stolen property ““ UCLA officials expressed their
remorse and intent.
“We truly thought that we had adequate policies and
procedures that included strong administrative and audit
oversight,” Gerald Levey, vice chancellor of UCLA Medical
Sciences, had said.
“We are investigating how our policies failed to detect
these illegal activities,” Levey added.
Once the dust settled, university officials agreed that an
independent investigation of the willed body program was necessary
as a court ordered injunction was instituted.
“We anticipate that we will be able to reach an agreement
regarding a court order relating to the willed body program,”
said Louis Marlin, an attorney for UCLA, in a March press
release.
A number of individuals whose family members’ body parts
were donated filed suit against Reid, Nelson and the willed body
program last March. They too await for the Deukmejian report to
learn what the future of the program will be.
After the April 13 court hearing, attorneys met and
re-emphasized the point that the program would not receive any
further donations until a thorough investigation was complete,
which leaves faculty, staff, students and donor families in limbo
as they continue to wait.