Nurses at a hospital in Denmark are being lauded for going above and beyond the call of duty and granting the final wish of a dying patient.
The nurses at the Aarhus University Hospital, which is near Copenhagen, disregarded the rules to fulfill the last desire of 75-year-old patient Carsten Flemming Hansen.
Hansen, who was admitted to the hospital last week, expressed the desire to smoke a cigarette and drink a glass of wine, before he breathed his last.
Hansen's Last Wish
Hansen was admitted to the hospital because of an aortic aneurysm, followed by internal bleeding in his stomach.
Doctors at the Aarhus University Hospital declared Hansen was too sick to undergo a surgery. They told him that he had only a few days, possibly hours left to live.
On hearing this, Hansen expressed his desire to nurse Rikke Kvist. He told her that he wanted to smoke a Green LA cigarette and drink a chilled glass of white wine, while enjoying the beautiful sunset from the balcony.
How Was Hansen's Wish Fulfilled?
Though smoking is banned at the hospital, the nurses decided to bend the rules to give Hansen his desired farewell.
Given that he had a few hours to live, nurses and Hansen's family were in agreement that the fulfillment of the patient's desire was more important in such a situation, vis-à-vis the adherence to the rules for smoking.
On Tuesday, April, 4, the nurses wheeled Hansen out to the balcony so that the 75-year-old could drink the chilled wine, smoke the cigarette, and watch the sunset one last time as he lay on the hospital bed. Hansen was surrounded by his loved ones as he sipped the wine.
"It was a very cozy and relaxed atmosphere. Of course they were relatives also affected by the fact that he was going to die, and they were sad," said Kvist.
Initially, the authorities at the Aarhus University Hospital were reluctant to share the picture of Hansen on social media. However, with the permission of the family members, the hospital authorities shared the image.
In the poignant Facebook post, which has since gone viral, the hospital shared that Hansen passed away peacefully on Friday, April 7. The hospital shared he had a "dignified" death.
Aarhus University Hospital's post of Hansen enjoying his last drink and smoke has garnered over 72 thousand likes. It been shared more than four thousand times on Facebook.
