Things may be looking up for UCLA’s embattled Willed Body
Program, but it is not out of hot water just yet.
One lawsuit against the program has been dismissed, and UCLA
will go to court next week seeking an injunction that would allow
the university to reopen the program. A second class-action lawsuit
is still in the works.
The first lawsuit was filed in 1996 by families of body donors
who alleged that instead of sprinkling the cremated remains of
their relatives in a rose garden as they were promised,
UCLA’s Willed Body Program dumped the ashes in a landfill. In
a second part of the same lawsuit, future body donors sued UCLA to
ensure that the program would dispose of their remains properly
after being used for medical research.
The Willed Body Program was rocked by scandal again last year
when the program’s director, Henry Reid, was arrested and
charged with illegally selling parts of cadavers for profit. The
arrest sparked a class-action lawsuit against the program, which
was subsequently suspended in March 2004 pending an internal
investigation.
The program won a victory last month when the Second District
California Appellate Court dismissed the first part of the 1996
suit. After nine years of litigation, there was not enough evidence
to rule that UCLA improperly disposed of donated bodies, Judge P.J.
Boren wrote in an opinion published last week.
This decision does not directly affect the 2004 lawsuit, but
Dale Tate, a spokeswoman for UCLA, said the university is pleased
with the decision.
“It’s my understanding that they are two separate
issues, but we think that it will have a positive impact on the
pending litigation,” Tate said.
Mike Eyerly, an attorney who has been involved in several UCLA
Willed Body cases since 1996, disagreed, saying that the decision
on the 1996 case has “no connection” to the pending
case.
The pending lawsuit may not affect the Willed Body
Program’s chances of reopening.
A hearing is planned for next Tuesday to determine if UCLA
should be allowed to restart its willed body program. If the court
approves the injunction, UCLA will be allowed to reopen the program
on the condition that the university provide periodic reports
indicating that it is complying with the University of California
Office of the President’s policies. If the court rejects the
petition, the case will go to trial Dec. 12.
UCLA plans to reopen the program as soon as the court allows,
and is confident that it is ready to reopen the program.
“We wouldn’t ask the court to reopen the program
unless we were confident that it could be managed with all the
appropriate governance and oversight structures in place,”
Tate said.
The plaintiffs are in favor of the program reopening because
their attorneys worked with UCOP to develop the UC’s new
system-wide policy on donated bodies.
“We are comfortable with the changes and direction
because, frankly, we had a lot of input into those changes,”
Eyerly said, adding that there needs to be continued court
supervision to ensure that UCLA completes its promised reforms.
The policy requires reforms which inject transparency and
redundancy into the UC’s willed body programs, said Allen
Nissenson, director of the division of nephrology in the UCLA David
Geffen School of Medicine and head administrator for the UCLA
Willed Body Program.
The policy includes a new system of governance and
accountability under which no one in the program has the kind of
isolated responsibility that Reid had; security policies that
include key-card access, security cameras and alarm systems; and
criminal and financial background checks for all employees of
willed body programs.
Most of these policies have already been implemented
system-wide, said Jennifer Ward, a spokeswoman for UCOP.
Not all the suggested reforms have been completed.
UCLA’s security system is currently under construction,
though it will be ready when the program opens, Nissenson said.
Other planned reforms include a tracking system by which
cadavers will be tagged electronically. The tracking system is
expected to be in place by Feb. 1, 2006.
And with the current level of reforms, UCOP is comfortable with
UCLA opening its program.
“The university has put in place extensive, comprehensive
changes. We have complete confidence in the UCLA Willed Body
Program,” Ward said.
With reports from Derek Lipkin, Bruin senior staff.