Made to relax in chairs nurses died (7)
I believe the answer is:
sedated
'made to relax' is the definition.
(to sedate someone is to make them relax)
'in chairs nurses died' is the wordplay.
'in chairs' becomes 'seated' (seated in chairs).
'nurses' is an insertion indicator (nurse can mean to hold onto or harbour).
'died' becomes 'd' (abbreviation next to the year of someone's death).
'seated' going around 'd' is 'SEDATED'.
(Other definitions for sedated that I've seen before include "kept calm" , "Calmed with drugs" , "Given a tranquilliser" , "Tranquilised" , "Given calming drugs" .)