Lawsuit Filed In Brain-Harvesting Program
Case Is 10th Stemming From Now Defunct ProgramPOSTED: 11:35 am EDT June 8, 2005
PORTLAND, Maine -- Frank and Peg Kelley say they received a call from Maine's state funeral inspector after their daughter died unexpectedly several years ago. He wanted to know: Would they be willing to donate a small sample of her brain tissue for research on depression?
According to a lawsuit filed last week by the Buzzards Bay, Mass., couple, her entire brain was taken instead.
Their suit is the 10th stemming from a now-defunct brain harvesting operation at the Maine medical examiner's office. The allegations largely mirror those made in the other cases.
The Kelleys said they got the call on Aug. 28, 2000, just hours after 42-year-old Candace Kelley died unexpectedly in Norway, Maine.
The caller, Matthew Cyr, asked for permission to take a small sample of her brain tissue, according to the lawsuit. Cyr was being paid $1,000 to $2,000 by the Stanley Medical Research Institute of Bethesda, Md., for each brain donation he solicited in Maine.
"Mr. Kelley asked, 'You're not going to take any organs out of her body, are you?"' the complaint reads. "In response Cyr stated, 'No, absolutely not, just a small amount of tissue. We wouldn't do that."
The Kelleys are suing Cyr, the Stanley Medical Research Institute, the institute's founder, and a Bucksport woman who lived with Cyr and purportedly witnessed the Kelleys' verbal consent when they agreed to donate the brain tissue, but not the entire brain.
The harvesting of brains at the state office where autopsies are performed was halted in 2003 after a Gorham couple complained they did not give permission for their late son's entire brain to be removed.
Federal and state investigators have since opened criminal investigations to determine whether any laws were broken during the brain harvesting program, which ran from 1993 and 2003.
The Stanley Institute and its founder, Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, have previously denied any wrongdoing. Their lawyer said Tuesday his clients have always acted in good faith.
In court documents filed in response to other lawsuits, Cyr and his associate have denied taking brains without permission.
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