Abstract
Remarkable technological developments in modern medicine have led to widespread consideration of many aspects of Bioethics such as euthanasia, abortion, genetic engineering, artificial Insemination, and organ transplantation. There have been interdisciplinary studies of Thanatology, the study of dying and death, bringing together psychology, psychiatry, religion, sociology and the medical sciences. These studies have focused on very important problems such as the care of terminally-ill cancer and AIDS patients in hospices, and life and death education. Palliative medicine is indispensable not only for terminally-ill patients, but also for curable cancer patients who suffer post-operative pain or nausea due .to chemotherapy. The study of palliative medicine is necessary for effective medical and psychological treatment. A promising area of study is psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), the cooperation of psychiatry and immunology in the development of bio-feedback, the so-called "healer within."
