New Hampshire residents sue after they say Harvard told them alleged medical-school cryptkeeper may have removed parts from their father's body

Four New Hampshire residents who say their father willed his body to Harvard Medical School yesterday sued Harvard and former mortuary director Cedric Lodge for the way Lodge may have removed parts from their father's body to sell to one or more macabre collectors - at least some right at the school mortuary, whose doors he allegedly opened to them.

In their suit, filed yesterday in Suffolk Superior Court, the children of Nicholas Pichowicz of Plaistow, NH, who died in 2019, say they received a letter from Harvard Medical School earlier this month that their father:

[M]ay have been impacted, meaning that body parts of his may have been sold by agents, servants and/or employees of Harvard.

As a direct and proximate results of the conduct complained of herein, the Plaintiffs suffered severe emotional distress, including nightmares, inability to sleep and flashbacks.

Their complaint alleges negligence by Harvard and Lodge, in part for failing to follow a state law that requires medical schools to "preserve cadavers in an appropriate fashion," and negligent infliction of emotional distress by both.

The lawsuit is the latest by survivors of people who bequeathed their body to the school in the Longwood Medical Area.