The return of Death Week at The Spinoff

All week, The Spinoff will talk about death – the process, the consequences, the reality.

You can read all the stories from the week of death 2023 here.

Some topics never get old or out of fashion because they never change. Death is one of those topics. Whether we like it or not (and we usually don’t), death becomes a topic of conversation more and more often as we get older. Last year we ran a Death Week series locally because we thought we might be able to cover a whole range of stories about the end. And although we did that (from the cost of dying to the rise in ‘eco-deaths’ to portraits of those who deal with death on a daily basis), we barely scratched the surface. So this year we’re back, again with the support of our friends at AA Life Insurance, to talk about the things we’d often rather not dwell on.

When I recently renewed my driver’s license, I checked “yes” to the question of whether I would be willing to donate my organs in the event of an accident. Ten years earlier, I had checked “yes” without hesitation. Of course I would donate my organs, why shouldn’t you? was my only reasoning at the time. Ten years later, I had to think again before saying yes. In the meantime, I had seen loved ones die and heard of the inevitable, horrific reality of having a loved one’s body taken away as quickly as possible to harvest their organs. I had heard horror stories of rude and callous calls asking relatives for their partner’s body parts shortly after their death. And I had heard more than one story of families ignoring a person’s wishes and refusing to donate their organs.

So as I filled out the license form again, I realized that this decision was not only something I could make in that moment and never think about again (literally), but that I needed to discuss it with my partner and family to make sure they knew exactly what my wishes were, and to ask them to respect those wishes, even while I grieved. I honestly haven’t had those conversations in any meaningful way yet, and writing this article has reminded me once again that it needs to happen. So we return to Death Week 2024, because just as the topic never gets old, it’s always worth reminding ourselves to think about what we want when it comes to our own death.

This week we’ll cover a whole host of new topics, starting with the excellent cover story by T. Black, who looks at why New Zealand continues to have such a shortage of organ donors and donations. There are many nuanced reasons – cultural and religious – why people don’t donate organs. But for many, it’s simply fear of the unknown. Just like ticking a box on a consent form, a lot has to happen for us to feel comfortable donating organs. There’s education – about what’s involved and when it happens – to avoid shocking whānau at their most difficult times; there’s education for doctors and practitioners about how to communicate with people who are often in shock and distress; and there’s education (and funding) to communicate to society as a whole what organ donation means to those whose lives it saves.

In short, it’s a matter of awareness and discussion, and that’s exactly what we’ll be doing this week. We’ll also look at the cost of dying, explore the phenomenon of natural cemeteries, tell stories of the struggles of digging, look at the global rise in water cremations and why New Zealand hasn’t joined in (yet). All that and more.

Each story is designed to spark a conversation, or at least get you thinking about something about death and dying that you’ve never thought about before. Maybe it’ll remind you that you’ve been meaning to write a will, create an end-of-life plan, or get life insurance. Or maybe it’ll just remind you of your own loved ones who have gone before us and inspire you to call someone and tell them you love them. Either way, we’re glad to have you here, at the beginning of the end.

All week long, The Spinoff will be talking about the ending. Click here Here to read more of our Death Week content.