Christina Aistrup Hansen was born on August 13, 1984, in Denmark. Growing up, there was little public indication that she would one day become one of Denmark’s most infamous convicted nurses. Hansen pursued a career in healthcare, eventually becoming a licensed nurse and working at Nykøbing Falster Hospital. She was regarded as skilled and competent by her colleagues and entrusted with caring for vulnerable patients in the medical ward.

Outside of her professional life, Hansen was a mother to a young daughter. Despite her ability to maintain a seemingly normal life, a forensic psychological evaluation later revealed that she suffered from histrionic personality disorder. According to court findings, this condition drove her to seek extreme forms of attention and recognition. Prosecutors would later argue that Hansen’s personality disorder played a key role in her alleged actions, turning patient care into a disturbing stage for her need to be seen as a heroic figure in medical emergencies.

Between 2012 and 2015, while employed as a nurse at Nykøbing Falster Hospital, Christina Hansen allegedly injected severely ill and weak patients with dangerous doses of morphine and diazepam—far exceeding what would be medically necessary. These drugs, when improperly administered in high doses, can lead to respiratory depression, cardiac arrest, and death.

Hospital staff became alarmed as an unusual number of patients under Hansen’s care began suffering unexplained deteriorations, with several dying under suspicious circumstances. An internal investigation revealed patterns of excessive sedative and opioid administration connected to Hansen’s shifts.

In March 2015, Hansen was arrested and charged with murdering four patients and attempting to murder a fifth. The prosecution argued that Hansen deliberately harmed patients to create medical emergencies where she could step in as a lifesaving nurse, portraying herself as a heroine in the eyes of colleagues and earning admiration for her supposed quick responses to sudden crises.

The trial in 2016 lasted 27 days, involving over 70 witnesses. The court concluded that Hansen had intentionally given lethal doses to her patients, convicting her of four murders and one attempted murder. She was stripped of her nursing license and sentenced to life imprisonment. Prosecutor Michael Boelsen described Hansen’s actions as “a bizarre play where the patients were her extras,” highlighting her “deeply perverted use of professional medical knowledge.”

However, in May 2017, Denmark’s High Court reviewed the case, leading to a partial reversal of the original conviction. The court determined that while Hansen had indeed administered harmful overdoses intentionally, forensic evidence could not conclusively prove that her actions directly caused the patients’ deaths. Consequently, the charges were reduced from murder to attempted manslaughter in four cases, and Hansen’s life sentence was reduced to 12 years in prison.

During the investigations, it was also discovered that Hansen had given her 7-year-old daughter strong prescription sleeping medication unsuitable for children, leading to an additional conviction related to endangering her own child.

Psychological evaluations depicted Hansen as an individual with narcissistic traits and a compulsive need for attention, consistent with histrionic personality disorder. Despite her conviction, Hansen has continued to maintain her innocence in interviews and communications with journalists.

The case sparked national debate in Denmark over patient safety in hospitals and the legal standards for convicting medical professionals of homicide. Hansen’s story gained international attention, later inspiring the Netflix miniseries The Nurse (2023), adapted from a book by journalist Kristian Corfixen.