The Oxford English Dictionary defines thanatology as “the scientific study of death, its causes and phenomena.” Also (U.S. origin), “the study of the effects of approaching death and of the needs of the terminally ill and their families.” The word thanatology first appeared in 1842 in a British medical lexicon. By the mid-1970s, thanatology was recognized as a special area of study, and Lawrence Stone referred to thanatology in a 1977 book review of Growing Old in America as a special branch of learning exemplified by historians of death, like Philippe Aries and Michel Vovelle, who have promoted the topic. A pioneer within this special branch of learning was Herman Feifel, whose books created an opening for scholarly discussions and reflections on topics such as death anxiety, terminal illness, hospice and palliative care, and the impact of death on survivors. Another pioneer was Elisabeth KüblerRoss, whose work with terminally ill people in a Chicago hospital led her to advocate that…