An elderly man died from COVID-19 after removing his oxygen mask and refusing treatment following the death of his wife.

90-year-old Bill Dartnall was rushed to the same hospital where his wife, Mary, had been staying for the treatment of COVID-19 after he suffered a stroke according to the reports.

As the doctors discovered, the husband, too, carried the novel coronavirus.

Mary and Bill were a Southampton couple who tied the knot back in 1956 and raised two daughters since.

After the couple were admitted to the hospital, Mary’s condition had reportedly started improving before a major turn for the worse cost the 81-year-old her life.

Once Bill heard of his wife’s passing, he removed his oxygen mask and refused medical treatment. Just hours later, he passed away.

“When he was told that Mum had passed away he tried to pull the mask off his face and made it clear he didn’t want any more oxygen,” daughter Rosemary expressed after her parents’ death.

“Dad refused to wear the mask – we don’t know why exactly but he didn’t want to carry on. He continued to be cared for and passed away peacefully in his sleep a few hours later.”

As Rosemary went on to suggest, her dad most likely didn’t want to live without his wife.

“They were very much a pair and it’s hard to imagine either of them without the other,” she added.

As per the website of NHS England, patients are allowed to refuse treatment, whereas their wishes have to be respected “even if is thought that refusing treatment would result in (…) death.”

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