Old woman dies after refusing ventilator, told doctors to ‘keep this for younger’

A 90-year-old coronavirus patient has died in Belgium after selflessly refusing a ventilator and asking doctors to ‘keep this for younger patients’. 

Suzanne Hoylaerts from Binkom, near Lubbeek, was hospitalised on March 20 when her condition rapidly weakened after contracting COVID-19. 

Hoylaerts required medical attention after suffering from a lack of appetite and shortness of breath. She was admitted to hospital where she tested positive for the virus and was placed in isolation where even her daughter was unable to visit. 

She reportedly told doctors at the hospital: ‘I don’t want to use artificial respiration. Save it for younger patients. I already had a good life.’ 

There is a global shortage of ventilators, an important equipment to fight against the respiratory disease, amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Hoylaerts passed away two days after she was hospitalised, on March 22. 

Her distraught daughter Judith told Dutch newspaper: ‘I can’t say goodbye to her, and I don’t even have a chance to attend her funeral.’ 

Belgium has reported 705 deaths according to the latest official toll.