Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial LIVE updates: Doctor reveals what accused killer said when leaving hospital against medical advice – as lone surviving guest and his daughter return to court

Erin Patterson has appeared in court wearing a black, floral-patterned top this morning while lone surviving lunch guest Ian Wilkinson also attended with his daughter Ruth Dubois to watch the proceedings.

Dr Veronica Foot (pictured below), who is continuing her evidence from yesterday, agreed with suggestions by lead defence barrister Colin Mandy SC that Patterson said she would return soon after leaving Leongatha Hospital the first time.

The court heard yesterday that Patterson left the hospital against advice within minutes of being told doctors suspected her lunch guests were suffering death cap mushroom poisoning.

‘I suggested to you (that) she said: “If I need to be admitted there’s some arrangements I need to make first, I don’t live very far away, I’ll be back soon”,’ Mr Mandy SC said.

‘We wanted to make sure she got the care she needed,’ Dr Foot said.

Dr Foot agreed with a suggestion by Mr Mandy that when Patterson returned she had a high heart rate, which was a symptom of ‘poisoning’.

She told the jury she advised Patterson that she and her children should go to the Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne.

‘It’s important to err on the side of the caution,’ Dr Foot said.

She said she discussed with Patterson a ‘liver transplant’ may be required for her and her children.

‘About the liver transplants, did she ask: “Would that be the case for everyone?”,’ Mr Mandy asked.

Dr Foot said she couldn’t remember Patterson asking about the liver transplants but agreed that she did ask about the health of the other lunch guests and how they were coping.

Dr Foot said she could not disclose confidential information if she was even aware of their health situation.

Nurse Kylie Ashton said she attempted to find Dr Veronica Foot to stop Erin Patterson from leaving Leongatha Hospital before having her sign a discharge notice, which is now a key exhibit in the murder trial.

‘I asked her to try and help me work with Erin,’ she said.

Ms Ashton urged Patterson to ‘get back ASAP (as soon as possible)’ after she signed the discharge form.

The nurse said she told Patterson that doctors ‘needed to keep her organs safe’.

Patterson’s barrister Colin Mandy SC pressed Ms Ashton on how much she knew about the other lunch guests.

She said she knew was the Wilkinsons were at the hospital and that four patients were sick due to the lunch, She had previously checked in on Heather Wilkinson.

The nurse told the jury Dr Chris Webster (pictured below), who has previously given evidence at this trial, handed Patterson over to Ms Ashton.

The jury heard Dr Webster told Ms Ashton that Patterson was the fifth member of the lunch.

Mr Mandy suggested that Patterson only told medical staff about her children consuming leftovers during her second visit to the hospital – and not on her first visit, as Ms Ashton had previously said during the trial.

‘I recall her directly telling me on the first visit about the children,’ Ms Ashton said.

Mr Mandy also quizzed Ms Ashton about Patterson’s pledge to return hospital.

‘I don’t remember her telling me she would definitely be coming back but she agreed to come back in a certain timeframe,’ she said.

Nurse Kylie Ashton arrived for work at Leongatha Hospital at 7.30am and was told there was a ‘poisoning event at play’.

Ms Ashton was told four people shared a meal and were potentially sick from ingesting death cap mushrooms.

She was informed the Wilkinsons were at Leongatha on liver preserving drugs.

Ms Ashton, who was the Leongatha Hospital director of nursing at the time, then said Erin Patterson arrived at the urgent care centre at about 8.05am.

‘I was asked to take over her care and do some observations,’ Ms Ashton told the jury.

‘I met her at the door, Erin wasn’t ready or willing to come into a bay for a more formal assessment.

‘I said it was important we did a thorough assessment and I asked her: “What brought you here, what are your symptoms?” I asked why she was here.

‘She had told me that she had been the fifth member of the lunch and she consumed the meal that was prepared and she had diarrhea and nausea since that occasion.’

Ms Ashton told the jury she advised Patterson that she needed to do a ‘thorough assessment’ and commence liver preservation treatment.

Ms Ashton said she made several attempts to get Patterson into a treatment bay.

‘I was concerned for her wellbeing, we wanted to make sure she got the care she needed,’ she said.

Ms Ashton said Patterson told her she hadn’t come to the hospital prepared to be admitted and she needed to make arrangements for her children.

‘I implored her to stay and said we really need to assess her, to stay on the medical treatment to keep her safe and well,’ she said.

Ms Ashton said she told Patterson her ‘life was at risk’.

She said she gave Patterson this advice as ‘quickly and seriously as I could’.

She said Patterson gave her the ‘same reason on repeat’ but ‘did agree that she will come back’.

‘I asked her on return to bring the children, they would need thorough assessment as well,’ Ms Ashton said.

Church paster Ian Wilkinson has arrived at court again to hear evidence in the trial against Erin Patterson.

Mr Wilkinson (pictured below, centre) was the lone surviving guest of the deadly lunch on July 29, 2023.

Mr Wilkinson’s daughter, Ruth Dubois (pictured below, right) has also returned to court after taking the witness stand yesterday.

The jury of 15 people have heard accusations Erin Patterson, from Victoria’s Gippsland region, intentionally prepared a meal laden with death cap mushrooms to kill four people.

Three guests including her parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, died horribly after eating individual beef Wellingtons cooked by Patterson during lunch at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023.

A fourth guest, Heather’s husband and church pastor Ian Wilkinson, managed to survive the lunch after spending weeks in an intensive care unit.

The court heard Patterson’s estranged husband Simon was also invited but didn’t attend.

Witnesses told the jury Patterson ate her serving from a smaller and differently coloured plate than those of her guests, which the court heard ate from four grey plates.

The jury was also told that Patterson had been in two Gippsland areas where the lethal death cap mushrooms had been spotted and alerted via the iNatural app.

Patterson told authorities she bought dried mushrooms from an unnamed Asian store in the Monash area of metropolitan Melbourne, however health inspectors could find no evidence of this.

The health department declared the death cap poisoning was ‘isolated’ to Patterson’s deadly lunch.

Multiple witnesses including Simon Patterson (pictured below), Ian Wilkinson and other family members have given emotion-charged evidence to the jury.

Medical staff have told the jury of the horrifying symptoms the dying lunch guests and Ian Wilkinson suffered.

Patterson’s movements at hospital and her abrupt departure have also been aired in court as the trial continues this morning.

Erin Patterson’s estranged husband Simon, who was invited to the lunch but did not attend, is pictured below outside court with a supporter.