Jeremy Metters: former deputy chief medical officer and England’s last HM inspector of anatomy

As the last person in England to hold the position of HM inspector of anatomy, Jeremy Metters could be said to have worked himself out of a job.

During his tenure, between 1999 and 2005, he chaired a two year inquiry into the retention of brains after postmortem examinations without relatives’ consent. The starting point was an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Cyril Isaacs in 1987, and his widow’s s chance discovery, in 2000, that his brain had been retained for research. The Isaacs report, published in May 2003, found that more than 28 000 brains had been retained between 1970 and 1999, with the relatives unaware in most cases. The report called for strengthening of the law to prevent covert and unconsented retention in future.1 “Anyone who had a postmortem from 1961 to 1999 could have had their brain removed …