COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A Danish court has given a life sentence to a nurse who has been found guilty of murdering three patients and attempting to kill a fourth at a hospital in southern Denmark.

The Nykoebing Falster city court says Christina Hansen deliberately gave overdoses of morphine and strong sedatives to three elderly patients in 2012 and 2015. A similar cocktail was found in a fourth patient who survived.

In its ruling Friday, the court said it was proven that Hansen "knew the patients would die of her acts."

Hansen has denied any wrongdoing since she was arrested March 1, 2015. Danish medias say her defense lawyer immediately appealed.

A life sentence in Denmark generally means 16 years in prison.