UCI Chain Reaction Continues

Getting to the heart of the scandal in UC Irvine’s Willed Body Program inevitably has meant dealing with considerable fallout. Last week, the dean of the medical school said that because of missing records the university couldn’t say for certain whether cadavers set aside for research are free of infectious diseases.

This is a situation with little in the way of useful precedent, so for guidance the university is wise to take extra precautions to protect students and researchers. In the meantime, the matter shows the chain reaction of administrative headaches that can occur when a program goes awry. The university will have to sort its way through the difficulties that have arisen since an audit revealed problems.

Getting on track must begin with high-level policy objectives, and the mandate came last week from Chancellor Ralph J. Cicerone. In writing to faculty and staff, he emphasized properly that nothing less than the reputation of the College of Medicine, and its ability to attract top students and professors, was at stake. But implementation of broad objectives always comes down to details such as what this is going to mean for students in the lab. That’s where the work of department heads and other supervisors must come in.

First, past problems must be cleared up. Last month, the program was shut down and the director, Christopher S. Brown, who maintains his innocence, was fired amid allegations that he profited from the sale of body parts and steered work to friends and relatives.

Sorting out the mess also led to the discovery that a computer virus had eliminated most program records, and with them proof that the bodies on hand had been tested for infectious diseases. The caution the school is using now--dispensing with cadavers that cannot be certified--also raises the question of how the UCI lab will meet its needs until the program can be set right.

The university will have to rely on the assistance of other institutions and otherwise make do until it gets things straightened out. The urgency of reform is evident.