Lunch guests' illnesses were 'not survivable', doctor tells Erin Patterson trial

Australia Broadcast Center

23-05-2025

A doctor has detailed the final moments of three lunch guests who died from death cap mushroom poisoning after attending a lunch at Erin Patterson's house.
Intensive care specialist Stephen Warrillow was called to the stand on Friday in Ms Patterson's triple-murder trial in the Supreme Court in Morwell.
Dr Warrillow said Don and Gail Patterson, along with Heather and Ian Wilkinson, were transferred to the Austin Hospital in Melbourne in the days after they attended a lunch at Ms Patterson's home on July 29, 2023.
All four were critically ill and suffering from symptoms consistent with mushroom poisoning, Dr Warrillow said.
He said people suffering from amanita poisoning tended to experience diarrhoea, vomiting and "relentlessly progressive" internal damage.
"Different organ systems essentially shut down," he said.
The doctor detailed how the group were hooked up to machines, with staff giving them doses of the liver treatment drugs N-acetylcysteine (NAC), silibinin and activated charcoal.
"He had a severe liver injury and severe liver failure," Dr Warrillow said of Don Patterson.
The doctor said a liver transplant was performed on Mr Patterson, but his condition got "relentlessly worse".
"All of our treatments had unfortunately failed and he was dying despite all the measures we were applying," he said.
Mr Patterson's wife Gail was so sick doctors were unable to perform a transplant, Dr Warrillow said.
Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, another of the lunch guests, suffered a similar fate.
"It was very apparent that this was not survivable," Dr Warrillow said.
The court was told the sisters died three hours apart early on August 4, 2023.
Don Patterson died the following day.
Ian Wilkinson, the sole lunch guest who pulled through, sat in the courtroom with his arms crossed as the doctor gave evidence about his story of survival.
Mr Wilkinson was also suffering from acute liver failure when he was brought to the Austin, with his condition declining from August 2 to August 4.
"We thought he was going to die. He was very close," Dr Warrillow said.
However, he explained, Mr Wilkinson turned a corner from August 5 to August 7.
"It was very slow because he was coming from a position of extreme critical illness," he said.
Mr Wilkinson was eventually released from intensive care to a regular hospital ward on August 21. He stayed in rehab before finally being discharged home a month later.
Prosecutors allege Ms Patterson, who fed the lunch guests individual beef Wellington portions, deliberately poisoned them with death cap mushrooms.
Ms Patterson has pleaded not guilty, insisting she never intended to harm the lunch guests who were members of her extended family.
Ms Patterson, 50, was also treated in hospital after the lunch and complained of suffering from diarrhoea and gastro-like symptoms, witnesses have told the trial. She was discharged within days.
The Leongatha woman told authorities mushrooms in the meal were sourced from a local supermarket and an Asian grocer in Melbourne's south-east.
Prosecutors say there was no evidence toxic mushrooms were being sold by shops, and claim Ms Patterson travelled to areas where death cap mushrooms were growing, two months before the lunch.
The trial, which has completed its fourth week, continues before Justice Christopher Beale.