Editorial: Med. Center must protect integrity

The University of California Police Department is investigating
allegations that employees of the UCLA Medical Center sold cadavers
and body parts for personal profit. If these allegations are true,
the medical center will have to prove to the world that it still
deserves its trust.

Henry Reid, director of UCLA’s Willed Body Program, was
arrested by UCPD Saturday. Another person who was not an employee
of UCLA was arrested today on charges of receiving known stolen
property. Authorities allege that Reid and another employee sold
body parts and covered their tracks for five years.

Reid was appointed to his position in 1997, following a lawsuit
against UCLA where families alleged that the bodies of their
relatives had been defiled by medical waste during the cremation
process.

Considering Reid was entrusted with the cadaver program’s
reconstruction following the scandal, his alleged role in the sale
of body parts is particularly gruesome, if true.

When people agree to donate their bodies for medical research,
they do so to contribute to society and medicine, not personal
profit. If the allegations are true, the families affected by this
new scandal and the previous scandal would be right to be
outraged.

The continued functioning of the Willed Body Program is based on
trust. People will their bodies to the medical center, hoping to
help train new doctors and advance research ““ but they also
presume they will eventually receive a decent burial or cremation.
If the medical center is shown to be untrustworthy, no one will
want to donate their bodies, and the program will fail.

UCLA has posted a guard by the cadavers, but 10 guards could not
prevent a determined insider from compromising the security and
sanctity of the bodies. The people who handle the bodies on a daily
basis inevitably will have the opportunity to steal or abuse the
corpses, if they so choose.

Therefore, the medical center must review its current practices
and find a way to make it impossible to alter the status of the
bodies without having those changes approved at multiple
administrative levels.

The medical center must now work to ensure that its current
leaders take a more active role in monitoring the program.

The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday that most cases of illegal
cadaver trade are motivated by profit. Noting a case from UC
Irvine, the Times reported the alleged perpetrator there earned
$33,000 a year, but was able to sell six spines for $5,000.

Regardless of the compensation level of its employees or the
outcome of the current investigation, the Willed Body Program must
have employees who are trustworthy. The success of the program is
important for the training and research conducted at the medical
center ““ professors, doctors and top administrators must now
work to protect the integrity of the program.

The reputation of the UCLA Medical Center is on the line.