Three Australians died of organ failure after eating a beef Wellington dish laced with toxic mushrooms, a medical specialist said Friday during a triple-murder trial sparked by the deaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with murdering the parents and aunt of her estranged husband in 2023 by serving them a hearty lunch laced with lethal death cap mushrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She is also accused of attempting to murder her husband’s uncle, who survived the meal after a long stay in hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patterson has pleaded not guilty to all charges in a trial that has drawn intense interest from around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Intensive care specialist Stephen Warrillow told the high-profile trial on Friday how doctors had scrambled to save the lunch guests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But as the toxins coursed through their bodies, causing multiple organs to shut down, there was little they could do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It was very apparent that this was not survivable,” Warrillow said, talking about one of the victims he treated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another victim got “relentlessly worse” even after receiving a liver transplant, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We had no other treatments to offer, no other therapies. He was dying,” the doctor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Warrillow was asked if the organ failure was caused by mushroom poisoning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“That’s correct, yes,” he told the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patterson was estranged from her husband Simon, who turned down the invitation to the July 2023 lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But his parents, Don and Gail, died days after eating the beef-and-pastry dish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Simon’s aunt Heather Wilkinson also died, while her husband Ian fell seriously ill but later recovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court earlier heard how Erin Patterson had sent messages to a Facebook group chat in December 2022, several months prior to the lunch, saying she wanted “nothing to do” with her in-laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patterson and estranged husband Simon were at odds over finances and child support, the court heard, and she had sought help from his parents, who refused to intervene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I’m sick of this shit I want nothing to do with them,” Patterson wrote in one message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prosecution alleges Patterson deliberately poisoned her lunch guests and took care that she did not consume the deadly mushrooms herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her defence says it was “a terrible accident” and that Patterson ate the same meal as the others but did not fall as sick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trial is expected to last another two weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Three Australians died of organ failure after eating a beef Wellington dish laced with toxic mushrooms, a medical specialist said Friday during a triple-murder trial sparked by the deaths. Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with murdering the parents and aunt of her estranged husband in 2023 by serving them a hearty lunch laced with lethal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":255,"featured_media":81987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,112],"tags":[8074,12870,12181,13014,13773,11968,13914,13682,13774,13747,12963,12805,13685],"class_list":["post-82555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-unusual","tag-australia-3","tag-beef-2","tag-court-2","tag-crime-2","tag-erin-2","tag-melbourne-2","tag-murder-2","tag-mushroom","tag-patterson-2","tag-toxic","tag-trial-2","tag-victoria-2","tag-wellington-2"],"yoast_head":"\n