As our research into end-of-life experiences in Aotearoa New Zealand continues, one insight is becoming impossible to ignore: the quality of our final days is shaped long before death arrives.

Our research into end-of-life experiences in Aotearoa New Zealand began with many questions. Yet, one has emerged with striking clarity: When does the end of life begin, and what does it truly mean?

What if the way we die spoke as loudly about our society as the way we live? In Aotearoa New Zealand, the growing crisis in end-of-life care exposes deep cracks in how we value life itself.