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here's some pertinent info for current applicants. 
so don't shut this thread down and move it to your forum drmom. 
UCLA Shuts Down Scandal-Plagued Cadaver Program
Tue Mar 9, 7:46 PM ET Add U.S. National - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The University of California at Los Angeles shut down its scandal-plagued donated cadaver program -- possibly for good -- on Tuesday amid a criminal investigation into the sale of body parts.
Reuters Photo
AP Photo
Slideshow: Lawsuit Alleges UCLA Sold Body Parts
Officials at UCLA put the program on hold as lawyers for family members of body donors obtained a court order barring the prestigious public university from further work on the cadavers it had in cold storage.
"It was decided it would be in the best interests of the public, in the best interests of UCLA and in the best interests of the College of Medicine to suspend the Willed Body Program at this time," UCLA attorney Lou Marlin said outside court.
"Whether or not UCLA will restart the program is a decision that has not been made at this time and will not be made for some period of time," he said. "It is being examined."
Marlin and university officials remained adamant that the scheme went no higher than Willed Body Program administrator Henry Reid, who was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of selling off bodies piecemeal instead of providing them to medical students for study.
Marlin said in court that Reid, one of the department's three employees, may have gotten away with trafficking in body parts by keeping some of the donated cadavers off the books.
"He may have been accepting cadavers that he never recorded," Marlin said.
Also arrested was 46-year-old Ernest Nelson, a body parts broker who claims that over the past six years he bought parts from some 800 cadavers from Reid for about $700,000 with the permission of the university.
A BLIND EYE?
Nelson's lawyers showed the Los Angeles Times documents which they claim prove that the university knew about the sale of body parts. Families of donors also made that charge in lawsuits they filed against UCLA and a number of medical research companies, including Johnson & Johnson .
"I still believe that ultimately the facts will show that people higher than Mr. Reid at UCLA were aware of what was happening with the body parts or at a minimum ... turned a blind eye," donor family lawyer Raymond Boucher said.
Boucher, who represents family members in a long-running 1996 lawsuit against UCLA over the improper disposal of remains, commended university officials for suspending the Willed Body Program and said it should never reopen.
"Given the black market for body parts and the history of this program it ought to be shut down," he said. "It would be wrong to even think of starting it up again."
Meanwhile Johnson & Johnson, the only firm so far sued by name and accused of purchasing body parts, confirmed that its wholly owned business unit Mitek "contracted with Mr. Nelson in the 1990s for human tissue samples."
"Mitek did not knowingly receive samples that may have been obtained in an inappropriate way," the company said in a statement. Massachusetts-based Mitek develops medical devices used in sports medicine and reconstructive surgery, according to the company's Web site.
Under a temporary restraining order that a Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner was expected to sign on Tuesday, UCLA medical students can continue to work on the 25 to 30 cadavers that had already been sent to their anatomy classes.
But the university will not accept any further body donations and will preserve untouched cadavers in its "cold room," until a further order from the court. It was not clear how many cadavers were in the cold storage room as it had been locked and placed under armed guard after Reid's arrest.
so don't shut this thread down and move it to your forum drmom. UCLA Shuts Down Scandal-Plagued Cadaver Program
Tue Mar 9, 7:46 PM ET Add U.S. National - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The University of California at Los Angeles shut down its scandal-plagued donated cadaver program -- possibly for good -- on Tuesday amid a criminal investigation into the sale of body parts.
Reuters Photo
AP Photo
Slideshow: Lawsuit Alleges UCLA Sold Body Parts
Officials at UCLA put the program on hold as lawyers for family members of body donors obtained a court order barring the prestigious public university from further work on the cadavers it had in cold storage.
"It was decided it would be in the best interests of the public, in the best interests of UCLA and in the best interests of the College of Medicine to suspend the Willed Body Program at this time," UCLA attorney Lou Marlin said outside court.
"Whether or not UCLA will restart the program is a decision that has not been made at this time and will not be made for some period of time," he said. "It is being examined."
Marlin and university officials remained adamant that the scheme went no higher than Willed Body Program administrator Henry Reid, who was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of selling off bodies piecemeal instead of providing them to medical students for study.
Marlin said in court that Reid, one of the department's three employees, may have gotten away with trafficking in body parts by keeping some of the donated cadavers off the books.
"He may have been accepting cadavers that he never recorded," Marlin said.
Also arrested was 46-year-old Ernest Nelson, a body parts broker who claims that over the past six years he bought parts from some 800 cadavers from Reid for about $700,000 with the permission of the university.
A BLIND EYE?
Nelson's lawyers showed the Los Angeles Times documents which they claim prove that the university knew about the sale of body parts. Families of donors also made that charge in lawsuits they filed against UCLA and a number of medical research companies, including Johnson & Johnson .
"I still believe that ultimately the facts will show that people higher than Mr. Reid at UCLA were aware of what was happening with the body parts or at a minimum ... turned a blind eye," donor family lawyer Raymond Boucher said.
Boucher, who represents family members in a long-running 1996 lawsuit against UCLA over the improper disposal of remains, commended university officials for suspending the Willed Body Program and said it should never reopen.
"Given the black market for body parts and the history of this program it ought to be shut down," he said. "It would be wrong to even think of starting it up again."
Meanwhile Johnson & Johnson, the only firm so far sued by name and accused of purchasing body parts, confirmed that its wholly owned business unit Mitek "contracted with Mr. Nelson in the 1990s for human tissue samples."
"Mitek did not knowingly receive samples that may have been obtained in an inappropriate way," the company said in a statement. Massachusetts-based Mitek develops medical devices used in sports medicine and reconstructive surgery, according to the company's Web site.
Under a temporary restraining order that a Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner was expected to sign on Tuesday, UCLA medical students can continue to work on the 25 to 30 cadavers that had already been sent to their anatomy classes.
But the university will not accept any further body donations and will preserve untouched cadavers in its "cold room," until a further order from the court. It was not clear how many cadavers were in the cold storage room as it had been locked and placed under armed guard after Reid's arrest.
