An elderly woman has died after mistakenly eating poisonous mushrooms she had picked from her garden to have for dinner with tuna and rice.
Loreta Maria Del Rossi, 98, from Bayswater, in Melbourne‘s east, died on May 22 this year after suffering organ failure.
She was found to have suffered poisoning from amatoxins, which are found in death cap and yellow-staining mushrooms, Victorian Coroner Judge John Cain said in his findings which were delivered this week.
Ms Del Rossi grew her own vegetables and was known to collect wild grasses for herself and her adult son, Nicola, who she lived with, the coroner said.
In April this year, Ms Del Rossi spotted some mushrooms in her front yard and asked her son if he thought they would be safe to eat.
She washed and cleaned the mushrooms and put them in a meal with tuna and rice.
Neither Ms Del Rossi or her son fell ill and a few weeks later on May 15, she decided to pick mushrooms from the garden again to make the same meal for dinner.
Ms Del Rossi woke up in the middle of the night and started vomiting, telling her son the mushrooms were not good.
An elderly woman living in Melbourne has died after mistakenly eating suspected poisonous mushrooms for dinner with tuna and rice (pictured are poisonous death cap and yellow-staining mushrooms)
At about 6am the following morning, Nicola started vomiting as well and the pair called an ambulance.
Both Nicola and his mother were taken to hospital but Ms Del Rossi’s condition deteriorated and she told medical staff she was in significant pain.
Following her wishes, Ms Del Rossi’s treatment was withdrawn and she was moved into palliative care. She died on May 22.
Mr Cain said in his findings that yellow-staining mushrooms were often confused for edible mushrooms that are bought from supermarkets.
Death cap mushrooms are usually white, yellow and brown or green in colour.
The Coroner issued an urgent warning about eating wild mushrooms, and said more public awareness was needed.
‘I therefore recommend that the Department of Health, in conjunction with the Victorian Poisons Information Centre, design an annual advertising campaign that can be released each year in early autumn, when wild mushrooms are prevalent in Victoria highlighting the dangers of consuming wild mushrooms,’ he said.
Ms Del Rossi’s death comes as a date is set for the trial of for alleged mushroom killer Erin Patterson.
Erin Patterson’s murder trial will start on April 28 in Victoria
Ms Patterson’s murder trial will start on April 28, 2025.
The 49-year old faces three counts of murder over the deaths of her father-in-law Don Patterson, mother-in-law Gail Patterson and extended relative Heather Wilkinson, after inviting the trio for lunch at her home in Leongatha, Victoria, in July last year.
She is accused of the attempted murder of her estranged husband Simon Patterson – who was invited to the lunch but did not attend – and two other alleged attempts on his life in 2022, and another in 2021.
Patterson is also accused of the attempted murder of pastor Ian Wilkinson, who was at the lunch but survived after a long fight for life in hospital.
