WILLED BODY PROGRAM
Goal to restore public's trust
BY CYNTHIA LEE
UCLA Today Staff
Leaders of UCLA and the University of California vowed to restore
integrity to the campus’ Willed Body Program in light of allegations
that the program’s director had illegally sold parts of cadavers
to an Alta Loma businessman.
UCLA has launched an internal investigation of alleged and potential
violations of university policies at the same time it is assisting
the UC Police Department with its criminal investigation. Campus
police have been in contact with many other law enforcement agencies,
including the FBI.
“We are determined to identify all individuals associated
with violations of law or policy involving the Willed Body Program,
and to see that they are punished appropriately,” Chancellor
Albert Carnesale told the UC Board of Regents, which met in San
Francisco on March 18. “We will find out what went wrong with
the program, and we will take action to prevent tragedies of this
kind from happening again.”
UCLA Audit and Advisory Services, which is conducting the internal
investigation, is also performing an inventory of donated anatomical
remains, as well as carrying out a full management review of the
program before overseeing its reform.
UC President Robert C. Dynes announced that UC is assembling a
task force, to be headed by former Gov. George Deukmejian, to review
all of the willed body programs at five UC campuses, develop guidelines
to prevent such misconduct from happening again and ensure that
the programs run properly.
“It’s very troubling that a program that is so important
to medical education and the advancement of medical sciences has
apparently been violated in such a fundamental way,” Dynes
said.
Said the chancellor: “I regret most deeply the emotional
pain that the alleged criminal activity has caused the loved ones
of those who were so generous as to donate their bodies to medical
education and research.”
So far, police have made two arrests: Henry Reid, the director
of UCLA’s Willed Body Program, has been charged with felony
grand theft, and businessman Ernest V. Nelson has been charged with
receiving stolen property. Both have been released from custody
after posting bond. Reid and Keith Lewis, a clinical assistant in
the program, have been placed on unpaid leave, Carnesale said.
Operations of the Willed Body Program were suspended March 9.
However, UCLA medical students are being allowed to continue to
use the cadavers for the remainder of the school year.
UC Vice President for Health Affairs Michael V. Drake, who will
assist Deukmejian and serve as UC’s internal point person
on the issue, explained to the regents how UC’s willed body
programs have for years supplied specimens to dozens of non-UC educational
organizations and research institutes.
“Much of this teaching and research takes place at institutions
separate from our medical schools — at colleges and universities
all over the state,” Drake said.
“But these other institutions do not have the means or wherewithal
to receive and prepare specimens,” said the vice president.
“They rely on schools of medicine to provide them with material
essential to their curricula. In addition to medical and educational
uses, there are important other uses in the development of commercial
products, such as safety equipment.”
Members of the UC task force, the majority of whom will come from
outside the system, will be announced shortly.
The task force will review operations of willed body programs
at UCLA, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC San Diego and UC San Francisco
and hold meetings this summer to receive comments from experts,
stakeholders and concerned citizens. It then plans to deliver a
report to Dynes before the end of this year.
As for UCLA, the campus has established telephone and e-mail hotlines
to respond to inquiries from family members of donors and other
concerned individuals.
In addition, the campus is seeking the court’s permission
to contact the families of donors, as well as those who intend to
donate their bodies and have completed donor forms, “so that
we may express our sorrow for the anguish caused by recent events
and to answer any questions they might have,” Carnesale said.
To see the chancellor’s complete presentation to the regents,
go to www.ucla.edu/bulletin/bulletin_story_37.html.
See page 8 for an interview with Gerald S. Levey, vice chancellor
of UCLA Medical Sciences and dean of the David Geffen School of
Medicine.
|
