This paper begins with a philosophical framing of the near-death, initiating a methodological inquiry into clinical practice and fieldwork. Within medical epistemology, clinical practice extends beyond mere observation and intervention, embodying the inherent tension between humanity and technology. In the context of the increasing medicalization and technologization of dying, clinical encounters at the end of life risk becoming progressively dehumanized. The emergence of narrative medicine has fostered a renewed emphasis on whole-person care, with fieldwork increasingly recognized as a complementary methodological paradigm. Fieldwork encompasses multiple methodological distinctions, including sociological and anthropological perspectives, quantitative and qualitative approaches, and analytic orientations toward pattern identification versus meaning interpretation, through which data and meaning emerge as key conceptual categories in near-death research. How to properly handle the tension is a new issue in fieldwork. Finally, the discussion focuses on the issue of subjectivity in near-death narratives, examines the perspectives of secondary actors represented within the narrative and calls for the development of an integrative subject-object framework in near-death research.