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Thanatology is literally the "study of death". It encompasses a wide area of studies; everything from the grief process, to the biology of dying, to pandemics, to the social views on death. My area is historical/anthropological. I study cultural views on death and how they are reflected in death rituals (funerals, wakes, etc) and social structure. So in a way, this case fits perfectly within my area.

Many people accuse me of being pro-death because of what I do, but I am a thanotologist because I have a great respect for life. Death is taken way to lightly in our society, there was a time when the death of a person was a communal event where the person was celebrated. Today, we are so surrounded by death we become desensitized to it. It is a great shame.

I have a little story to tell you. My son Timmy died in 1992 from septis due to his leukemia. Well, a university called me some where from the mid west. Anyway, they wanted to send a medical student who was studying here from Japan to ask me cultural questions about how americans vs japanese parents or loved ones on how they react to illness and death of a loved one. It was very interesting. Apparently, now remember this is 1992, the japanese would never discuss the illness with the ill person nor tell them that they were going to die, vs most americans who are honest with their loved one. It just not something that is discussed there. They would keep the illness and the ramifications from the person.