Cancer doctor thanks Bowie for helping people face death

London - A British doctor who works with terminally ill people has thanked David Bowie for helping open up a conversation about death.

Bowie died of cancer on 10 January aged 69 and Dr Mark Taubert says it helped him speak to one dying cancer patient about how to have "a good death".

In a blog on the British Medical Journal website, Taubert said Bowie's story "became a way for us to communicate very openly about death".

Taubert's blog was reposted on social media on Sunday by Bowie's son, Duncan Jones.

Bowie did not go public about his illness, but made a final album, Blackstar, that meditated on life and mortality.

Taubert said Bowie's final acts had "had a profound effect on me and many people I work with".