Who is Christina Aistrup Hansen? What Did She Do? Check Here
by Alaguvelan M | Updated Apr 28, 2023
Who is Christina Aistrup Hansen?
Christina Aistrup Hansen, born in 1984, is a former nurse from Denmark who faced charges for the murder of three patients and attempted manslaughter at the Nykobing Falster Hospital. Christina Aistrup Hansen, a former Danish nurse born in 1984, was charged with the murder of three patients and attempted manslaughter at Nykøbing Falster Hospital.
In June 2016, Christina was sentenced for four murders and attempted murder under section 237 of the Danish Penal Code and was also deprived of her authorization as a nurse. During the 27-day trial at the Nykobing city court, more than 70 witnesses testified that Hansen had given lethal doses of morphine and diazepam to her sick and weak patients. Following the judgment, Hansen appealed to the national court for a declaration of dismissal.
However, in May 2017, the Ostre Landsret convicted her in a single jury trial for three murders and found her guilty of attempted manslaughter in four cases. The court changed Hansen's punishment from life imprisonment to 12 years in prison. This was due to a forensic and evidence-specific detail that emerged during the trial, which suggested that Hansen's medical abuse on patients did not occur "in treatment or pain relievers by mistake." The technical evidence was not strong enough to confirm the verdict, and the Legal Service Council concluded that it was not possible to be fully certain that the morphine and diazepam injections were the direct causes of death.
What Did Christina Aistrup Hansen Do?
In 2016, Christina Aistrup Hansen was apprehended for the demise of three patients at Nykobing Falster Hospital in Denmark. The deceased included a 72-year-old man who passed away in 2012 and two more patients, an 86-year-old woman and a 66-year-old man, who both died on February 28, 2015. Elevated levels of morphine and diazepam, also known as Valium, were detected in their bodies, and Hansen was the night nurse assigned to the hospital department on each of these occasions.
After suspecting her colleague Christina Aistrup Hansen's involvement in the deaths of three patients, Pernille Larsen (whose character was portrayed in the TV series The Nurse) along with her boyfriend, Dr. Niels Lunden, who worked in the same department, informed the police which led to Hansen's arrest.
The trial of Christina Aistrup Hansen gained extensive coverage in the Danish media and became one of the most significant cases in the country. She earned the notorious nickname "Devil of Death" due to her actions. The evidence presented in court proved that she was the one responsible for injecting lethal doses of morphine and diazepam to her patients.
In 2016, she was sentenced to life imprisonment for three murders and one attempted murder, as one patient survived due to the substances injected by Hansen. However, the sentence was reduced to 12 years in 2017, and she was charged with "attempted manslaughter" due to insufficient evidence that the drugs directly caused the patients' deaths.
As of the current year, 2023, Christina Aistrup Hansen remains incarcerated in a Danish prison, where she is serving her sentence. Hansen was diagnosed with Histrionic Personality Disorder, a condition marked by excessive attention-seeking behavior. The diagnosis suggests that Hansen drugged the patients to gain attention by saving them promptly afterward, but in three out of four cases, she failed.
Kristian Corfixen wrote a book titled The Nurse, which is inspired by Hansen's true story. During the writing process, Corfixen interviewed Hansen in prison. Hansen disclosed, "Many people in here talk about reaching a point where they come to terms with their sentence, but I haven't gotten there yet." She also revealed that she still experiences intense anger and frustration and attempted to take her own life once.
Why Did Christina Hansen Kill the Patients?
The prosecution had been attempting to identify a motive behind Christina's actions since her arrest. She injects diazepam into patients in an attempt to save them. When patients experience cardiac arrest after the injections, Christina goes to great lengths to revive them. She makes heroic efforts by administering compressions and advising doctors on the patients' condition, which earns her admiration and recognition from her colleagues, doctors, and superiors. Even when patients die after receiving the diazepam injection, Christina is commended for her dedication to serving and saving them.
According to the evaluation of Christina's psychological condition by Michael Boolsen during her trial, the deaths of the patients were the result of her attempts to become a heroic figure at the hospital. Boolsen described Christina as emotionally driven with deficient self-control and a poor level of introspection and self-awareness, exhibiting a personality disorder of the histrionic type with a degree of calculation. This information is sourced from Kristian Corfixen's book 'The Nurse: Inside Denmark's Most Sensational Criminal Trial.'
Inside Denmark's Most Sensational Criminal Trial," Michael Boolsen's evaluation during the trial stated that histrionic personality disorder is characterized by a "superficial and fragile contact with others, a tendency to dramatize, distinct susceptibility to the influence of others, egocentricity, vanity, lack of compassion, abnormal vulnerability, and chronic seeking of thrills, acknowledgment, and attention in their lives."
Boolsen's conclusions suggest that Christina Aistrup Hansen injected diazepam into patients to seek thrills and attention. The prosecution also focused on this aspect of thrill as the motive behind Hansen's actions, a motive usually associated with notorious American serial killers but rarely seen in Danish criminal history.
Christina’s desire for attention was further elucidated by Pernille, who gave an example of her colleague allegedly wearing a cast without an injury. "It's typical of Christina to put on a cast on an arm that isn't broken, so she could show it off, and everyone would ask her what happened. Then a cardiac arrest isn't just a cardiac arrest, of course. It becomes the cardiac arrest where Christina fought so hard that she broke her hand. Then the drama starts, and she's the one in the spotlight. She loved that," Pernille stated, as per Corfixen's book.
Taking into account Boolsen and Pernille's testimonies, as well as the accounts of Christina's former colleagues, the nurse's need for attention played a role in the deaths of multiple patients. However, legally, she is not considered a murderer. Although Christina was initially convicted of three counts of murder and a single count of attempted murder, one of the two Danish High Courts later found her guilty of four attempted murders because there was no conclusive evidence to show that the drugs she injected into the three deceased patients were the sole cause of their deaths.
Netflix Series The Nurse
Apart from the aforementioned accusations, Hansen was convicted of administering potent, prescribed sleeping medication that is hazardous for children and only intended for adults, to her seven-year-old daughter. According to a forensic psychological evaluation, Hansen was diagnosed with a histrionic personality disorder. This disorder makes an individual prone to undertaking extreme measures for receiving positive attention. Their inclination towards violent self-absorption, coupled with narcissism, often prompts them to commit acts that enable them to remain at the center of attention.
The nurse was believed to have committed the killings due to her histrionic personality disorder, according to the prosecution. Michael Boelsen, the prosecutor in the case, stated that Hansen saw herself as the main character in a strange drama where the patients were merely extras. Despite being described as competent, a psychiatric report indicated that she had average intelligence.
Boelsen noted that Hansen had used her medical knowledge in a twisted manner, motivated by her personality disorder. Additionally, Hansen will be featured in an upcoming Netflix series titled The Nurse, scheduled for release on April 27, 2023.
who is christina aistrup hansen - FAQs
Christina Aistrup Hansen is a former Danish nurse who was convicted of injecting patients with lethal doses of morphine and diazepam.
Christina Aistrup Hansen's motive was to garner attention and become a heroic figure at the hospital. She suffered from a histrionic personality disorder, which is characterized by a chronic seeking of thrills, acknowledgment, and attention in one's life.
Christina Aistrup Hansen was diagnosed with a histrionic personality disorder.
Pernille Larsen, one of Christina Aistrup Hansen's colleagues, started having suspicions about her and alerted the police with the help of her boyfriend, Dr. Niels Lunden, who worked in the same department.