|
|
UCLA sued for improper disposal of cadavers
November 12, 1996
Web posted at: 3:30 a.m. EST
From Correspondent Anne McDermott
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Cadavers once used to train medical students at a prestigious California school are coming back to haunt the university in the courtroom.
The University of California at Los Angeles is being sued by families who claim the bodies of loved ones donated to the school for medical study were not disposed of in the agreed upon manner.
In a class-action suit filed last week, the families say they were promised the bodies would be cremated, the ashes scattered in a nearby memorial park.
Instead, they claim, their loved ones were actually deposited at sea and in landfills, with no record of where the individual remains actually lie.
"As of now, she could be in a dumpster," said Robert Bennett, Jr., whose mother, Lorraine, died in 1992. "We Really don't know."
UCLA officials say they have cleaned up their act, that cases such as Mrs. Bennett's are a thing of the past.
"The problems that were identified have been corrected. And, as I said, we're running what I think is a model program today," said James G. Terwilliger, vice provost-administration for UCLA's School of Medicine.
But that doesn't soothe the pains of UCLA's alleged past transgressions.
David Saber, whose business, Ashes at Sea, specializes in ocean burials, says he remembers dumping some UCLA remains at sea three years ago.
"The shock was incredible. The shock of seeing, as we know it in our business, loved ones mixed up with the worst, heinous things in a bag marked 'toxic, dangerous waste,'" said Saber.
Thomas Brill, an attorney for the plaintiffs, contends Saber's account is but one example of UCLA's mistreatment of bodies entrusted to the school.
"They burn them with animal parts, with aborted fetuses, with medical waste, with needles, Brillo pads," said Brill. "You name it, they throw it into the mix."
Regardless of the suit's outcome, many families may never know exactly where their relatives' final resting place is located.
Related site:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser windowExternal sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
|
Tell us what you think! You said it... |
|
|
© 1996 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.