This paper outlines briefly some of the research which has been carried out on attitudes to terminal illness and its care. The writer feels that not enough effort is being put into the teaching of this subject in our medical schools and Universities, and that doctors themselves are the ones who often wish to 'duck' the issue of dealing with disability and the dying. However, with the increasing awareness, through both the research and the growing allied literature, the writer feels (...) that there is no longer any excuse for omitting this subject from the curricula for doctors and nurses in training. (shrink)