Judge allows continuation of lawsuit alleging Alabama university practiced organ harvesting 

An Alabama judge ruled last week that a case alleging the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) performed an autopsy on a federal inmate and removed his organs without permission can proceed.

According to the Alabama Reflector, Matthew Harrell died unexpectedly at a federal prison in March 2023. His family was notified of his death, and staff members at the warden’s office reportedly told them an autopsy would be performed but did not seek permission to carry out the procedure.

The outlet also reported that UAB took custody of Harrell’s body and performed an autopsy even though the coroner did not order one. According to the complaint, the warden at the federal prison ordered the autopsy.

AL.com reported that the family hired an attorney, Lauren Faraino, to investigate what happened after Harrell’s death. She found that UAB reportedly kept several of Harrell’s organs. In a court filing, she called the alleged organ harvesting “nothing short of grave robbery, dressed in the guise of medical authority,” adding that “it strikes at the heart of public trust in our institutions.”

According to the Alabama Reflector, the attorney for UAB filed a motion to dismiss the suit, arguing that federal law allows wardens to order autopsies for inmates. Faraino responded that wardens can authorize autopsies if a crime is suspected or if disciplinary action is involved, which were not factors in Harrell’s death.

Judge Patrick Ballard ultimately decided Aug. 13 to let the case proceed. According to AL.com, he acknowledged that his ruling will likely be appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court.

Faraino said that the hearing made clear “that UAB is attempting to escape responsibility and liability on technicalities.”

“We know that something really wrong happened here,” she said, according to AL.com. “UAB, the decisions that the pathology department has made, has put these families through a tremendous amount of grief and suffering. They have questions about what happened to their loved ones and why, and that is why we are here, to get those answers.”

AL.com reported that several other lawsuits are currently playing out in Alabama on behalf of other families whose family members’ bodies returned from UAB without some of their organs. Faraino is arguing eight cases like the Harrells’.

According to local NBC affiliate WVTM 13, Faraino said that students at UAB became concerned in 2018 that many of the organs used in the lab apparently came from inmates. The school reportedly shut down students’ questions about the organs and removed the identification labels that showed the organs’ origins.

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