Family Sues UC Over Remains

The medical center at UC Davis is being sued by a family who recently discovered their father’s head had been kept in a former autopsy assistant’s toolshed for nearly 11 years.

Osie K. Whitten died Dec. 24, 1990, of colon cancer and donated his body to the center to be used to help other cancer patients.

His head was among about 150 pounds of human cadaver parts allegedly removed from the center over 11 years by David Lawrence Beale, a former employee of Pathology Support Services Inc., which managed the morgue and autopsy service for the medical center for 13 years.

Beale was arrested last summer after the remains were found among his belongings in four Yolo County locations. He pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial, though police said he told them he used the remains to hone his dissection skills.

Both Beale and his former employer also are named in the suit filed in Sacramento Superior Court by Alan, David, Scott and Terry Whitten. Alan Whitten was asked by the Yolo County coroner’s office to identify the embalmed head after it was recovered.

The suit alleges negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Medical center officials wouldn’t comment on the suit, though they previously said they have changed the way human remains are handled.

Beale’s former employer said Beale’s activities were not part of his job.