Latest UCI Probe Targets Possible Sale of Body Parts

A new medical school scandal hit UC Irvine as officials revealed Friday they are investigating whether parts of bodies donated for research were improperly sold, and whether cremated remains were returned to the wrong families.

Medical school officials have fired the director of its Willed Body Program, called in the district attorney and set up a toll-free number for family members in an effort to determine whether ashes were properly returned to relatives.

The investigation began after a routine audit in January found an expense-account item in which program director Christopher S. Brown, 27, charged the university for a trip to Phoenix.

There, university officials say, Brown sold six spines to an Arizona research program in exchange for a $5,000 check made out to Health Medical Services, an organization UCI officials say they do not recognize.

Brown, who made about $33,000 a year, was placed on leave by the university on Aug. 9. He was notified Wednesday that he will be terminated next week.

On Friday, Brown denied any wrongdoing.

“I’ve never done anything that would be deemed unethical or anything that wasn’t done by the university’s procedures,” Brown said. “I’ve done everything the way I was trained or taught to do. . . . They can’t prove anything. They can’t prove I did anything wrong.”

Though the extent of problems with the Willed Body Program is not yet known, the revelations come on the heels of a series of scandals at the medical center over the last five years, beginning with the theft of human eggs from unwitting patients at a UCI fertility clinic that drew national attention.

Since then, at least two professors have quit the medical school amid allegations of research impropriety in unrelated incidents. Just this summer another researcher resigned after being accused of spreading a radioactive substance on a colleague’s chair.

Thomas C. Cesario, dean of the school since 1994, said the latest scandal has “been very stressful.”

“We are definitely concerned about the reputation of the school,” he said, adding that its goal remains to be in the first rank of the nation’s medical colleges. “It is really demoralizing,” he said.

Frustrating the latest investigation are the incomplete or missing records kept by Brown. Investigators found that a computer virus had destroyed most records on Brown’s office computer, Cesario said.

The program, which has been operating since the medical school opened in 1968, accepts about 75 donated cadavers annually. Most are cremated and scattered off the Newport Beach coast at no charge to the family, officials said.

About 10% of the donors request that their remains be returned as ashes to relatives once research is completed. For that service, the university collects $600, a fee that Cesario said does not cover all of the university’s expenses.

UCI officials said they had been unable to determine whether ashes were returned to the proper families.

Cesario said computer experts at the university had worked unsuccessfully for more than a month to reconstruct information on Brown’s office computer where records on cadavers are kept. In addition, letters have been written to the 34 families who had asked for their relatives’ ashes back or to be told of the disposition of the ashes at sea. The remaining families did not ask for either the ashes back or information on their disposition.

Cesario stressed that the university’s review has not found anything to suggest that the bodies were used for anything other than education or research. But it’s unclear, he said, if all the ashes of some 225 bodies handled by the program over the three years Brown has run it were properly returned or scattered at sea as requested by donors.

“Our most important job right now is to determine the disposition of those donors who had designated that their remains be returned to their loved ones,” Cesario said. “We have a crucial responsibility to honor their wishes.”

On Friday, UCI officials established a hotline for families of donors: (800) 758-4102.

The university has stopped accepting cadavers while it reorganizes the Willed Body Program under an interim director, surgery professor and associate dean Dr. Peter Lawrence.

Among other allegations against Brown is the claim that he had a financial interest in several companies that did business with the program. Cesario said the director was a part owner of Harry’s Transportation for a short time in 1998 at the same time he contracted with the company to move cadavers for UCI’s Willed Body Program.

The dean called it a conflict of interest that “nobody knew about until this investigation.”

Brown acknowledged that he did own a share of the company, but only briefly. “I didn’t think about a conflict of interest. . . . I was in there only three weeks. I didn’t make any money. I didn’t make a dime.”

Cesario said university officials have asked the Orange County district attorney’s office to investigate possible criminal activities related to the program.

Tori Richards, a spokeswoman for the D.A.’s economic crimes unit, confirmed that the office has been reviewing allegations for the last two weeks.

“We’re looking at possible embezzlement, but we can’t rule out any other type of crime at this point,” she said.

Last year, scandal hit the Willed Body Program when the ashes of about 40 people who had donated their bodies to UCI were found stockpiled in an Anaheim mortuary. Southwest Mortuary Service had been hired by the university program to scatter the ashes into the Pacific Ocean, but investigators determined that some of the bodies had been cremated up to 14 years earlier.

The university was sued in 1998 by an Anaheim Hills family that claimed UCI failed to return their father’s ashes after his body was used for research in 1995. The case is pending in Orange County Superior Court.

“We were in limbo, and to this day we haven’t had that closure,” said son Vincent Craig. “It’s been years since his death.”

Tony Mazzaschi, assistant vice president for biomedical research at the Assn. of American Medical Colleges in Washington, said there have been a number of problems with willed body programs nationally.

“These are difficult programs to run,” he said. “The bodies change hands throughout the medical school and you need to have a tracking system as to where bodies are and where the body parts are.”

The programs are important to the schools, which typically use them for many classes over several years. In some case, organs or body parts can be sent to other institutions for research.

“The bodies are a valuable asset and that is why the issue of trust with potential donors, essentially members of the community, is essential,” he said.

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Times staff writers Lisa Richardson, Meg James, Kate Folmar, Daniel Yi, Jack Leonard and Jennifer Mena contributed to this story.

* FEELING THE HEAT

Fired director of Willed Body Program denies any wrongdoing and says he loved his job. A10 . . . Medical school dean once again faces “demoralizing” revelations. A11

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

How UCI’s Willed Body Program Works

body goes to UCI where it is embalmed. Organs may be removed.

If family wants cremated remains, they pay UCI a $600 processing fee.

If they don’t want ashes, there is no fee and ahes are scattered in the ocean.

Body or organ sent to university or hospital for research. Some bodies are used at UCI.

The university or hospital sends money to UCI to cover UCI’s costs.

Source: University of California, Irvine