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UCLA’s willed body program, shut down last year after its director was accused of selling body parts for profit, may reopen as soon as today, officials said.

Superior Court Commissioner Bruce E. Mitchell said in a short hearing Tuesday the program could reopen and that he was pleased with the changes officials have made in the wake of the scandal, according to a UCLA press release.

Lawyers representing relatives of body donors agreed to a preliminary injunction that would allow the program, which accepted donated bodies for medical research, to reopen provided it complied with new regulations drawn up by lawyers and University of California officials.

Those regulations include new rules for using and disposing of cadavers, a centralized tracking system for donated bodies, systemwide donor forms, and written guidelines regulating security and personnel.

Papers allowing the program’s immediate opening could be signed by Mitchell as soon as today, university spokeswoman Roxanne Moster said.

Dr. Allen Nissenson, who heads the program, said he was “very pleased” with Tuesday’s decision.

“We’ve worked very hard to get the program to a point where we thought it was appropriate to ask the court to take that action, so we’re very happy with the decision,” he said.

In the next several months, a more permanent agreement could be signed which would track the program’s implementation of the new requirements over a period of 18 months.

If it passed that test, the injunction could be lifted completely.

Moster said the UCLA program will not actually be accepting donated cadavers until sometime next year, in part because of ongoing construction at the willed body facility.

In the meantime, officials will be focused on implementing the new policies developed by the UC, Nissenson said.

UCLA also plans to implement an electronic tracking system for donated cadavers by Feb. 1, 2006.

“We have a lot of work to do still even thought we won’t be accepting new cadavers for the time being,” Nissenson said.

Bodies donated to UCLA’s program will be diverted to other UC campuses with willed body programs until UCLA’s program can return to full operation.

The arrest of former Willed Body Program director Henry Reid in March 2004 for grand theft in connection with the selling of body parts sparked a class-action lawsuit against the program.

The program was suspended indefinitely a month later. No criminal charges have been filed and an investigation is ongoing.

An earlier lawsuit had been filed in 1996 by relatives of cadaver donors, alleging that remains were being disposed of improperly. An appellate court judge dismissed that suit last month, saying the plaintiffs did not have enough evidence of the illegal disposal.

A second part of the same lawsuit was filed by future body donors who seek to ensure their remains would be disposed of properly.

That suit, along with the 2004 suits, are still pending.

Mike Arias, a lawyer representing plaintiffs from both lawsuits, said Tuesday’s agreement was “a culmination of our litigation over several years to improve the way the willed body program operates.”

Arias said the development of the guidelines to regulate the program and the acknowledgement from the UC Board of Regents that reforms needed to be made were key factors in the plaintiffs’ agreement to an injunction allowing the program to reopen.

“We feel we’ve accomplished some part of what we’ve sought to obtain” for the relatives involved, Arias said.

“Now we know it serves a good social purpose and service to the public to have this exist. We’re happy that it’s going to reopen.”

Arias said the ongoing lawsuits from relatives seeking damages in connection to alleged illegal activities within the willed body program would not be affected by Tuesday’s decision.

The program, founded in 1950, had been receiving about 175 bodies per year before the 2004 scandal.