1. To describe the last year in the lives of a random sample of adults dying in 1987. 2. To make comparisons with an earlier study* and identify change in the nature and availability of care and in the attitudes and expectations of lay and professional carers. 3. To make some assessment of the influence of the hospice movement on these changes. 4. To describe in more detail than the previous 1969 study, the institutional care of people in the year preceeding their death. 5. To determine the experience and views of the doctors and nurses involved in the care of these people in the last year of their lives. 6. To describe the care and support given to close relatives both after and before the death. *An earlier study <i>Life Before Death, 1969</i> is held at the Data Archive as Study No. 393. Methodological issues in studying life before death; the roles of professionals, hospitals, hospices, residential and nursing homes, and day centres in caring for the dying; the balance of care; hospice deaths and cancer deaths; experiences of those who died and those who cared for them; changes since 1969. Characteristics of the general practitioners were obtained from DHSS data.