Doctor reveals shock move Erin Patterson made after hospital visit

The jury has heard Erin Patterson told medical staff she needed to get back to her Leongatha Home (pictured) to look after her animals when she first left hospital.

‘I don’t live very far away, I’ll be back soon,’ Erin’s barrister Colin Mandy SC suggested his client told medical staff before leaving the hospital.

Previously, CCTV footage played to the jury showed Dr Veronica Foot holding a Woolworths bag which contained leftovers of the deadly lunch.

The video showed her putting on gloves and taking out the leftovers.

She then placed them on a white cloth and the sample was transported by ambulance to the Monash Medical Centre.

Dr Foot said Erin would have needed liver protection drugs and be canulated – which would allow medicine to be administered directly into her vein – after learning she had prepared the fatal meal and eaten at the same time as her other lunch guests.

On cross-examination, Dr Foot said she was not aware that Dr Chris Webster had already spoken to Patterson.

A triple-0 call Dr Chris Webster made to alert police after Erin Patterson left Leongatha Hospital has been played to the jury.

Below is an edited transcript of the call, made just after 9.25am on July 31, 2023, which was played to the jury.

Dr Webster: This is Dr Chris Webster calling from Leongatha Hospital and I have a concern regarding a patient that presented here earlier and has left the building and is potentially exposed a toxin from mushroom poising and I’ve tried several times to get hold of her on her mobile phone..

Triple-0 operator: Before you give me any more information, what address do you need police to attend, Dr Chris?

Dr Webster: Should I give hospital address or the address of the patient?

Operator: If you know where they are, the address of the patient?

Webster: I have the address of the patient, [REDACTED] Gibson St – G-I-B-S-O-N – Street, Leongatha 3953

*Redacted details about location of street*

Operator: What’s her name?

Dr Webster: The last name is Patterson – P-A-T-T-E-R-S-O-N

Dr Webster: Erin – E-R-I-N

Operator: Do you have a date of birth?

Webster: 30th of September, 1974

Operator: When did she present at hospital?

Op: Mushroom poisoning you said?

Dr Webster: So there were five people who ate a meal on Saturday and two of them are in intensive care at Dandenong Hospital. Two have been transferred from Leongatha Hospital to Dandenong Hospital and Erin presented this morning with symptoms of poisoning.

Operator: And what happened when she presented, she just got up and left?

Dr Webster: No, she… there was time for a nurse to commence observations and I was managing the critically unwell patients and I had a brief chat to her about where the mushrooms were obtained and after that, while I was attending the other patients, the nurse had informed me she had discharged herself against advice. So I don’t know, hang on we have the forms here, no it doesn’t have the time she left at, she was only here for five minutes.

Operator: Is this her home address?

Dr Webster: Yes, [REDACTED] Gibson Street is her home address

Operator: Just to clarify, there were four other people who ate the same meal, is that correct?

Dr Webster: Yes, so the meal was consumed by five people and four of those people ate now hospitalised and Erin presented this morning?

*Redacted details about hospital contact numbers*

Dr Webster: All the patients are now at Dandenong Hospital

Operator: I’ll let the police be notified, [REDACTED] Gibson St, Leongatha. Would you like to be notified with an outcome?

Webster: Yes, I’d be happy for them to contact me anytime on the mobile number.

Operator: Ok, thanks very much for your help.

Dr Chris Webster (pictured below) has continued giving evidence, telling the court he recieved advice from another doctor on July 30 about the arrival of Don and Gail Patterson to Dandenong Hospital.

‘I received an SMS text,’ the Leongatha Medical Health Clinic director said.

Dr Webster said he didn’t consider transferring the couple to Melbourne because there were ‘signs they were responding well to initial treatment’.

He was later informed that the lone guest to survive the lunch, Ian Wilkinson, had thrown up ‘yellow vomit’ and passed ‘loose watery stool’.

He said the patients were given anti-nausea medication ‘with little effect’.

The doctor was informed that Ian’s wife Heather Wilkinson’s stool had a ‘foul smell and pink colour’.

He said Ian had four episodes of vomiting and diarrhea overnight and had been unable to keep ice cubes and water down.

Dr Webster told the jury he received a call from Dr Beth Morgan at Dandenong hospital.

‘(She told me Gail and Don) had grossly informal liver function tests and they were concerned about the chance of death cap mushroom poisoning,’ he said.

He said he did not see results of blood tests analysed at Wonthaggi Hospital until after Ian and Heather had been transferred to Dandenong.

‘I asked them to transfer to urgent care and prepare the necessary measure to commence intense treatment,’ he told the court.

Dr Webster returned to Leongatha Hospital where he encountered Erin Patterson for the first time on July 31, two days after the lunch.

‘I apologised (that) she had been kept waiting, I asked why she had presented and she said “gastro”. (I recognised her as) Erin Patterson,’ he said.

‘I asked her where she got the mushrooms and she said, “Woolworths”.’

He told the court he recognised her as the ‘chef’ of the lunch meal.

Dr Webster said he told Erin that he needed to commence treatment for possible death cap mushroom poisoning.

The doctor later said he became aware Erin had left hospital.

‘Erin had discharged herself against advice,’ he said.

‘I was surprised, well, I had just informed (her) she had just been exposed to a deadly death cap mushroom and I thought hospital would be a better place to be.

‘I rang Erin’s mobile three times and left three voicemails.

‘I was apologetic, and I informed the voicemail that I would have to inform police for her health and safety to bring her back to hospital.’

A jury has been played CCTV footage which showed Erin Patterson leaving Leongatha Hospital after being warned of potential death cap mushroom poisoning.

The video showed on-call doctor Veronica Foot touching Erin’s arm.

Erin, who wore a face mask, pressed a button to open the hospital doors.

Dressed in a red top and white pants, she remained at the door after she was approached by nurse Kylie Ashton.

Ms Ashton asked Erin to sign a ‘discharge against medical advice’ form.

The CCTV footage showed Patterson signing the form and leaving.

Patterson returned later and reported symptoms of gastro and ongoing diarrhea.

Dr Foot asked who ate the meal and Erin told her that her children did, but said they ate only meat and vegetables but not the pastry or mushrooms.

Dr Foot said she was told Erin purchased the mushrooms from ‘Safeway’ – now known as Woolworths, the jury was reminded – in Leongatha, and a Chinese shop in Melbourne.

The jury heard medical staff conducted an examination on Erin and every key food poison indicator and health test was in the ‘normal range’.

That was except for Erin’s heart rate which ‘settled over time’, the jury was told.

‘Stress and anxiety can make your heart rate go up,’ Dr Foot said.

Dr Foot said Erin begged to leave hospital so she could pick her children up from school, but Dr Foot warned against it.

‘It was not safe for her and her children for her to drive them there and (it wasn’t safe) other road users,’ she said.

Dr Foot suggested Erin ask her estranged husband Simon Patterson to pick up the children, but she said it was ‘not in their best interest’.

Dr Foot said she stepped out of room while Erin spoke to Simon on the phone and she was told he would pick up the children and take them to Monash Medical Centre.

Dr Foot said she later received a call from a toxicology specialist who advised to her treat Ms Patterson with IV fluids and antibiotics.

A second toxicology expert called Dr Foot and requested she send the leftover beef Wellington sample at the Leongatha Hospital to the Monash Medical Centre.

The jury heard Erin Patterson returned to hospital just before 10am, about 45 minutes after Dr Webster called triple-0.

He told the court he asked if anyone else had eaten the beef Wellington and that Patterson replied her children had eaten the meat, but not the mushrooms or pastry.

At 10.04am, police called the hospital and said they had arrived at Patterson’s house.

‘I told them she was here (at hospital) but I asked them to grab some of the leftover Wellington,’ Dr Webster said.

‘I had no idea, but figured there was a chance, strike while the iron is hot.’

The doctor said Erin gave permission for police to break into the house and collect the leftovers.

He spoke to her one last time before he left to ensure the health and safety of her children.

The doctor also asked about the children’s whereabouts.

‘I stressed the importance of getting them to hospital.’ he said.

‘Erin was reluctant to inform the children and I said it was important, she was concerned they were going to be frightened.

‘I said, “They can be scared and alive, or dead”.

‘She started to understand the importance and I believed she would get it done.’

Leongatha Medical Health Clinic director Dr Chris Webster was the on-call doctor when he was told to expect the arrival of two patients, Ian and Heather Wilkinson.

Dr Webster gave evidence that he had been made aware four people were unwell after all had eaten the same meal.

He said Ian and Heather arrived at Leongatha hospital (pictured below) just before 11am on July 30.

‘They were triaged by a nurse (for) vomiting and diarrhea,’ he said.

Dr Webster said he saw Ian and Heather together in an isolation room.

‘They were both conscious, alert they were clearly unwell but not distressed, and they were both able to freely communicate,’ he said.

He said the symptoms were typical of food poisoning.

Dr Webster said he asked if the lunch guests had eaten anything before the main lunch and confirmed no alcohol was consumed at any point by any attendee.

‘There was no food consumed prior to the lunch,’ he said.

‘She (Gail) said it was delicious. I established who was at the lunch – I was aware Heather’s sister and brother-in-law, and I was aware Erin Patterson, was present. They said everybody ate the meal.

‘I did enquire about the meat, the most likely cause of the food poisoning will be the meat, not the other ingredients.

‘I saw them both vomit and I was aware when they went to the toilet to open their bowels.’

Dr Webster said he saw no evidence of blood in the vomit.

He said anti-nausea medication was administered to both patients.

Dr Webster confirmed both patients had been suffering from vomiting and diarrhea since midnight.

Gail and Don Patterson’s church pastor son Matthew Patterson told the jury how he called Erin Patterson after learning his parents were sick from eating poisonous mushrooms.

Matthew, the brother of Erin’s estranged husband Simon Patterson, told the court that during the phone call he asked Erin where she got the mushrooms.

‘I asked her how she was, Simon had mentioned she’d been to hospital in Korumburra so I wanted to see if she was doing alright,’ he said.

‘She mentioned there were fresh mushrooms from Woolies and dried mushrooms from… I don’t know, a Chinese shop in Oakleigh. It was more of a broad response.

‘I immediately shared (the information about the mushrooms) with the medical staff.’

Matthew, who described his and Erin’s families as close, had previously told the jury she rushed to see his parents at Dandenong Hospital.

Matthew said he saw his father with two medical staff in a room in intensive care.

He said the staff were chatting with his father about the meal.

‘He said he ate a beef Wellington-type dish. He said it had mushrooms on it or around it or something like that,’ Matthew told the court.

‘He said he had no idea (where the mushrooms came from, when asked by medical staff).

‘They did joke about how dad ate mum’s leftovers and their stomachs looked a bit larger.’

Matthew said it was about 10.30am when he called Erin about the mushrooms.

He said Erin emailed him after his parents died and asked if her children could stay with he and his wife.

Matthew (pictured at left, below) also confirmed that Erin, who he had known for 20 years, loaned he and his wife $400,000 to buy a home.

The jury heard their children played online games with each other.

He previously told the court that Erin and Simon were always ‘amicable’, but said her visits had become ‘briefer’ during the couple of years before the fatal lunch.

He said conversations had become more ‘mechanical’ between she and Simon.

Ian and Heather Wilkinson’s daughter Ruth Allison Dubois told the jury she had known Erin Patterson for 10 to 15 years but the were only ‘acquaintances’.

Ms Dubois, the eldest daughter of four children, confirmed she first met Erin when she started a relationship with Simon Patterson, who is Ms Dubois’ cousin.

‘I didn’t really know her; enough to say “Hi” in passing, that’s it,’ Ms Dubois said.

She told the court she attended the same church as Erin and other members of her family.

Ms Dubois said her mother had been with Gail at the church when they were both approached by Erin about coming to lunch.

Ms Duois said Erin told her mother: ‘Ah, just the two I was looking for (to invite to lunch).’

She also told the jury she had attended a meal with her parents and others the night before the fateful lunch, where they ate meats and fruit and lemon cheesecake – but no mushrooms.

She said no one fell ill following that meal.

Ms Dubois said she managed to speak with her parents at Dandenong Hospital before they were transferred to the Austin Hospital ICU in Melbourne.

She said her parents asked how Erin was and were concerned about her health.

They asked if she was OK or seeking medical attention.

Ian Wilkinson is pictured below right entering court today.

Don and Gail Patterson’s daughter Anna Marie Terrington has tearfully told the jury of her conversation with her parents before their fatal lunch at Erin Patterson’s home.

‘They said they had been invited to Erin’s house for lunch,’ Ms Terrington said.

‘(Gail) said it was unusual that Heather and Ian (Wilkinson) had been invited because they hadn’t been invited to Erin’s before.’

Ms Terrington said she phoned her about 5pm on the day of the lunch and asked ‘how it went’.

‘Mum said it went well,’ she told the court.

Ms Terrington broke down in tears when confirming her parents ate beef Wellington.

‘It was too much for Mum, so Dad finished hers,’ she said.

Mr Terrington said her mother made no mention of being unwell. She learned of her parents’ illness the next day when her brother told her and their siblings in a text message that Don and Gail were in hospital.

‘He said that Mum and Dad were in hospital… experiencing vomiting and diarrhea since midnight,’ she told the court.

‘He said that Erin was experiencing diarrhea but was soldiering on at home.’

Ms Terrington also told the jury she was aware of another lunch in early 2023 when her parents attended Erin’s home.

She said her parents did not say who was present at the earlier lunch apart from mentioning they were the only adults there.

‘They ate a pie of some sort,’ she said.

Ms Terrington, who has known Erin since 2005, said neither of her parents became ill after that lunch.

The court heard that Erin and Ms Terrington had children born three days apart and they shared a ‘close relationship’ during their pregnancies.

The defence suggested that Ms Terrington and her partner had borrowed $400,000 from Erin to buy a house in 2011.

‘I don’t believe it was 2011,’ she said.

‘We had already purchased our home.’

However, Ms Terrington admitted the loan was made to ‘help with the house’.

She said it was indexed to inflation but no interest was charged.

Ms Terrington also said Erin attended family events and remained in a group chat chat on the Signal messaging app after her split from her now-estranged husband Simon Patterson (pictured below leaving court).

‘There was no animosity,’ Mr Terrington (pictured below, at right) said.

Korumburra Baptist Church treasurer Angela Child issued a statement which was read to the jury.

Ms Child said she had a meeting with Ian Wilkinson just hours after the fateful lunch.

She waited at their home for Ian and his wife Heather to arrive home.

When they arrived, Heather told Ms Child they ‘had a lovely lunch’.

‘Delicious and beautiful,’ the jury was told.

‘She continued to rave about the meal,’ Ms Child said.

Ms Child added that neither looked sick.

Church secretary Jennifer McPhee attended the same meeting and confirmed they spoke of the ‘delicious meal’.

‘She playfully teased Ian about how much he had eaten,’ Ms McPhee said in her statement to the court.

Survivor of the fatal mushroom lunch Ian Wilkinson has returned to court and is sitting just metres from the woman accused of murdering his wife, Heather.

Mr Wilkinson yesterday gave evidence in the trial of Erin Patterson (pictured below), who is also accused of attempting to murder the Korumburra Baptist Church pastor.

The only guest to survive the lunch was excused yesterday by the court after his lengthy and emotional evidence concluded – but he has returned to hear today’s session.

The jury heard evidence from toxicology specialist Dr Mark Douglas, who suspected Don and Gail Patterson were suffering from death cap mushroom poisoning but did not have enough medical evidence to administer the antidote for the lethal fungi.

Dr Douglas, who was the toxicology registrar at Dandenong Hospital when Don and Gail attended, was told the patients had consumed a potentially deadly meal about midday on July 29, 2023.

‘That was the question was being put forward, could these symptoms be related to the meal,’ Dr Douglas said.

He was also informed that Ian and Heather Wilkinson had presented at Leongatha Hospital with similar symptons and eaten the same meal prepared by Erin Patterson, who today appeared in court wearing a pink shirt.

Dr Douglas was also informed that Gail ate about a third of the meal, however she and Don were transported to the Austin Health ICU.

The jury heard Gail had been told her sister and Ian were being wheeled into hospital as well.

Dr Douglas told the jury that Mr Wilkinson was alert and talking on arrival at Dandenong Hospital, but he was extremely nauseated and carrying a vomit bag.

‘He was constantly vomiting,’ he said.

The jury heard Heather had also eaten the whole portion.

‘She said it was delicious,’ Dr Douglas said.

The jury in the trial of Erin Patterson, who is accused of three counts of murder and one of attempted murder after serving a deadly mushroom-laden beef Wellington lunch, has heard how her guests died in agony.

The deceased lunch guests are Erin’s former parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson.

Pastor Ian Wilkinson (pictured below), who gave evidence yesterday that he prayed for Erin after she told her lunch guests she had cancer, also consumed the toxic meal but survived after spending several agonising weeks in intensive care.

Yesterday, Monash Health junior doctor Beth Morgan told the jury she reviewed initial examinations taken when Don and Gail first arrived at Dandenong Hospital about 7.30pm on July 31.

She said Don had signs of metabolic acidosis – a condition which makes the blood more acidic, as explained to the jury.

Dr Morgan also said Don was losing iron through his unabated vomiting and diarrhea.

She told the jury Don was severely dehydrated, had abnormal electrolyte readings and there was ‘significant kidney damage at this stage’.

The court heard Don had four liver function tests after arriving at the hospital and each one was abnormal.

Other medical witnesses told the court that Don and Gail had suffered vomiting and diarrhea up until their deaths.

Earlier yesterday, lead defence barrister Colin Mandy SC attempted to raise doubt over a key piece of evidence that his client ate from smaller plate than her guests.

The jury had earlier heard evidence that Erin Patterson ate from a small ‘orangy-tan’ plate while her guests ate from four larger grey plates.