UCLA says donated bodies were sold

LOS ANGELES - Officials at the University of California at Los Angeles acknowledged Monday that parts of bodies donated for medical research there had instead been sold, and apologized for a failure in oversight.

Donors' families, meanwhile, filed a lawsuit against the school, claiming the director of the university's Willed Body Program had been selling body parts illegally for years with the knowledge of other UCLA officials. UCLA has denied knowing about the sales.

The director, Henry Reid, was arrested along with another man accused of helping to sell the body parts.

UCLA officials admitted Monday that some body parts were sold to companies but said they were only used for medical research. They promised to revamp the cadaver program.

"These alleged crimes violate the trust of our donors, their families and UCLA," said Dr. Gerald Levey, dean of UCLA's medical school. "We are investigating how our policies failed to detect these employees' illegal activities."

About 175 people donate their bodies each year to the university for use in anatomy classes, officials said.

Reid, 54, was arrested Saturday for investigation of grand theft for allegedly selling corpses and body parts for profit.

Ernest V. Nelson, 46, was arrested for investigation of receiving stolen property. A UCLA statement said Nelson was not a university employee.

Nelson said he acted as a middle man for six years, retrieving body parts from the medical school's freezer and selling them to research companies. He said Reid and other UCLA employees knew what he was doing.

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