1
00:00:00,840 --> 00:00:05,680
Speaker 1: He was sedated and intubated. That's correct, yes, So in

2
00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:06,720
Speaker 1: an induced coma.

3
00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:10,000
Speaker 2: He was on a breathing machine, so on life support

4
00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:13,119
Speaker 2: ventilation with the tube bown into his windpipe through his

5
00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:16,360
Speaker 2: mouth and receiving medication to assist his comfort. During that time.

6
00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:19,960
Speaker 3: It was a cold morning in more Well today and

7
00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:24,040
Speaker 3: inside the La Troe Valley Law Courts, Crown Prosecutor Sarah

8
00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:27,800
Speaker 3: Lenthal asked an intensive care doctor about the condition of

9
00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:30,360
Speaker 3: the guests at that deadly mushroom lunch.

10
00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:35,360
Speaker 1: Now we have been discussing his treatment on thirty one July.

11
00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:39,920
Speaker 1: How is Donald Patterson's condition? By the next day, one August.

12
00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:45,479
Speaker 2: He continued to deteriorate despite very aggressive treatment. Really, the

13
00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:49,240
Speaker 2: measures that we were observing, both clinically and on investigations,

14
00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:52,920
Speaker 2: we're moving in the wrong direction. We were very, very worried

15
00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:55,280
Speaker 2: about his progress. He was getting worse.

16
00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:01,080
Speaker 3: A week that had been about technical evidence ended on

17
00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:04,840
Speaker 3: a human note, and there to hear it. Sitting quietly

18
00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:08,520
Speaker 3: in court was Ian Wilkinson, the guest who lost his

19
00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:14,160
Speaker 3: wife to deathcap mushroom poisoning. I'm Brooke greebt Craig, and

20
00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:19,640
Speaker 3: this is the mushroom cook It's the end of week

21
00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:23,039
Speaker 3: four of Aaron Patterson's murder trial, and once again I'm

22
00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:26,200
Speaker 3: joined by my colleague, court reporter Laura PLASSELLA.

23
00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:29,600
Speaker 4: Happy as always to be here with you, Brooke, but

24
00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:33,640
Speaker 4: it seems like our makeshift podcast studio is unhappy with us.

25
00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:37,040
Speaker 4: We're having a technical difficulty or two today, but we're

26
00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:38,800
Speaker 4: soldiering on, Yes we are.

27
00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:42,280
Speaker 3: We had a super short day in court today. We

28
00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:46,479
Speaker 3: only heard from one witness and that was doctor Stephen Warrelowe,

29
00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:49,360
Speaker 3: whose words you heard at the top of the episode.

30
00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:54,240
Speaker 3: He's an intensive care specialist at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne,

31
00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:58,440
Speaker 3: and he told the jury that he treated don Gale Patterson,

32
00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:02,880
Speaker 3: and Gail's sister Heather and her husband Ian Wilkinson while

33
00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:06,400
Speaker 3: they were in hospital in the days after that deadly lunch.

34
00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:09,680
Speaker 4: And as you already mentioned, brook Ian was sitting in

35
00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:13,320
Speaker 4: court today listening to this evidence, and this was evidence

36
00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:17,239
Speaker 4: about the final days of his wife's life and also

37
00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:22,000
Speaker 4: evidence about how he battled to survive and ultimately recovered

38
00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:26,239
Speaker 4: from toxic mushroom poisoning. After giving evidence in the second

39
00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:28,920
Speaker 4: week of the trial, Ian has actually been sitting in

40
00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:33,720
Speaker 4: court most days and he's been surrounded by other family members.

41
00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:37,160
Speaker 4: So the doctor first gave evidence about Don, so let's

42
00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:41,480
Speaker 4: begin with him. Sounds like a plan. Doctor Warlow told

43
00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:45,200
Speaker 4: the jury that both Don and Gail arrived at the

44
00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:49,320
Speaker 4: Austin Hospital on July thirty one after they were treated

45
00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:53,360
Speaker 4: at Dandy Nong Hospital. He said after Don arrived, he

46
00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:57,520
Speaker 4: had been diagnosed with acute liver failure and was pretty

47
00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:03,040
Speaker 4: quickly sedated and intubated. The Austin Hospital is the state's

48
00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:06,920
Speaker 4: liver transplant service. He said that was the reason why

49
00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:09,560
Speaker 4: all of these guests came to the hospital because they

50
00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:12,160
Speaker 4: were in the best place to receive treatment relating to

51
00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:15,799
Speaker 4: the liver. The doctors considered the cause of his liver

52
00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:18,760
Speaker 4: failure as well as the other guests to be Amanita

53
00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:23,520
Speaker 4: mushroom poisoning, so this is essentially toxic mushroom poisoning. But

54
00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:26,880
Speaker 4: doctor Warrelo said that investigations still needed to be made

55
00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:30,920
Speaker 4: to rule out any other possible causes. He said this

56
00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:35,960
Speaker 4: involved blood tests, imaging, ultrasounds, and even some tests for

57
00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:39,520
Speaker 4: some specific viruses so they could just make sure there

58
00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:42,080
Speaker 4: was no other cause for this liver failure.

59
00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:46,000
Speaker 3: The jury heard that eventually Don had to undergo a

60
00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:47,120
Speaker 3: liver transplant.

61
00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,720
Speaker 4: Yes, that's right, doctor Warrelo said that despite intensive treatments,

62
00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:55,320
Speaker 4: Don continued to deteriorate and that the only possibility of

63
00:03:55,360 --> 00:04:00,000
Speaker 4: saving his life was through a liver transplant. Crown prosecutor said,

64
00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:02,320
Speaker 4: O Lenthal, who you heard from at the top of

65
00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:06,600
Speaker 4: the episode, asked doctor Warlow where the Don's condition improved

66
00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:10,400
Speaker 4: after the liver transplant, but he replied no, he got

67
00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:13,680
Speaker 4: relentlessly worse. He then told the court that doctors at

68
00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:16,640
Speaker 4: the Austin Hospital had no other treatments to offer Don.

69
00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:21,400
Speaker 3: He was dying and sadly, Don passed away on August five,

70
00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:25,400
Speaker 3: exactly one week after the lunch. Now let's move on

71
00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:28,520
Speaker 3: to Gail Patterson. What did the doctor say about her?

72
00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:33,560
Speaker 4: So Gail arrived again alongside her husband on July thirty one,

73
00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:36,719
Speaker 4: and he described how she was very critically ill when

74
00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:40,040
Speaker 4: she was admitted by August two. He said her liver

75
00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:43,200
Speaker 4: was essentially not working at all and she was in

76
00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:46,560
Speaker 4: a state of advanced shock due to multiple organ failure.

77
00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:49,520
Speaker 4: The court heard that the same sort of investigations that

78
00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:53,560
Speaker 4: were undertaken for Don were also done for her, but

79
00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:56,320
Speaker 4: the doctors again concluded that the cause of her organ

80
00:04:56,360 --> 00:04:59,039
Speaker 4: failure was toxic mushroom poisoning.

81
00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:03,320
Speaker 3: And Gail didn't undergo a liver transplant, did she No.

82
00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:06,600
Speaker 4: Doctor Warrelo said that all of the specialists came together

83
00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:09,719
Speaker 4: to have a conversation around the best course of treatment

84
00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:12,640
Speaker 4: for Gail, but it was determined that she was too

85
00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:14,920
Speaker 4: sick to undergo such a complex surgery.

86
00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:19,240
Speaker 3: And that's something similar that happened to her sister, Heather Wilkinson, right,

87
00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:22,400
Speaker 3: that's right. The sisters had a very similar decline while

88
00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:25,720
Speaker 3: they were in the Austin hospital. Heather arrived one day

89
00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:30,479
Speaker 3: after Gail on August one with her husband Ian, and

90
00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:33,480
Speaker 3: doctor Warrelo said that by August two, she was also

91
00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:38,120
Speaker 3: rapidly deteriorating. The court heard that the specialists treating Heather

92
00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:42,160
Speaker 3: ultimately concluded that her condition was not survivable. She died

93
00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:44,320
Speaker 3: on the same day as her sister, on August four,

94
00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:47,800
Speaker 3: and that was one day before gone. Finally the doctor

95
00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:49,120
Speaker 3: spoke about Ian.

96
00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:53,279
Speaker 4: So after arriving at the Austin Hospital, doctor Warrelo said

97
00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:57,599
Speaker 4: Ian was showing signs of advanced multiple organ failure just

98
00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:01,520
Speaker 4: like the other guests. He was extremely unwell, he said,

99
00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:07,000
Speaker 4: and something called a plasma exchange was commenced on August three.

100
00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:11,480
Speaker 4: Ian was administered a raft of treatments. These included a

101
00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:14,680
Speaker 4: drug called NAK which is to protect the liver, as

102
00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:19,480
Speaker 4: well as activated charcoal and syllibin, which are targeted medications

103
00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,800
Speaker 4: for people who are suffering from deathcap mushroom poisoning.

104
00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:26,440
Speaker 3: But the court heard that Ian slowly started to improve.

105
00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:29,839
Speaker 4: That's right, and it seemed like this was almost out

106
00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:33,120
Speaker 4: of nowhere. On August four, he was still declining, but

107
00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:36,279
Speaker 4: by the next day doctor Warrelo said that there was

108
00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:39,760
Speaker 4: some slow and important improvement. He told the court that

109
00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:42,279
Speaker 4: it was slow because Ian was coming from a situation

110
00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:44,520
Speaker 4: of extreme critical illness.

111
00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:48,080
Speaker 3: The jury heard that Ian was discharged from the ICU

112
00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:52,000
Speaker 3: on August twenty one, and eventually he returned home in September.

113
00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:56,400
Speaker 4: Miss Lenthal had one final question for doctor Warlow about Ian.

114
00:06:57,320 --> 00:06:59,600
Speaker 4: These are their words, it's not their voices.

115
00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:02,359
Speaker 1: How close did Ian Wilkinson come to dying?

116
00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:05,400
Speaker 2: We thought he was going to die. He was very close.

117
00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:09,600
Speaker 4: After Miss Lenthal asked doctor Warlow about all the lunch guests,

118
00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:14,840
Speaker 4: there were some questions around amanita mushroom poisoning. Generally, the

119
00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:18,560
Speaker 4: doctor walked the jury through the effects this poisoning has

120
00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:21,920
Speaker 4: on the body and he said that towards the end

121
00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:26,040
Speaker 4: it can be a relentlessly progressive and quite frightening rapid

122
00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:31,240
Speaker 4: deterioration into multiple organ failure, were the body's different organ

123
00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:34,880
Speaker 4: systems essentially shut down and the patient is at a

124
00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:36,280
Speaker 4: very high risk of dying.

125
00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:40,920
Speaker 3: After the doctor was done giving his evidence, Digital forensic

126
00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:45,520
Speaker 3: Officer Sharman fox Henry made a quick return to the stand.

127
00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:46,840
Speaker 3: That's right.

128
00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:49,640
Speaker 4: It was a very very brief appearance by mister fox

129
00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:52,640
Speaker 4: Henry and it was to complete his evidence. In chief.

130
00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:57,160
Speaker 4: One of the other Crown prosecutors, Jane Warren, returned mister

131
00:07:57,160 --> 00:07:59,960
Speaker 4: fox Henry to the topic. They were talking about, Yesda

132
00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:03,880
Speaker 4: being one of the Samsung mobile phones that was seized

133
00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:07,520
Speaker 4: by police during the search warrant on August five. Our

134
00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:11,080
Speaker 4: listeners may remember that yesterday mister fox Henry confirmed that

135
00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:15,080
Speaker 4: a number of factory resets were conducted on this device.

136
00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:18,440
Speaker 4: I will just clarify at this point that the dates

137
00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:24,600
Speaker 4: of the factory resets were February twelve, August two, August five,

138
00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:29,320
Speaker 4: and August six of twenty twenty three. August five was

139
00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:32,440
Speaker 4: the date of the search warrant, and August six was

140
00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:35,120
Speaker 4: the following day after he was done.

141
00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:39,680
Speaker 3: Justice Christopher Bill apologized to the jury. He said, sorry,

142
00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:42,080
Speaker 3: it has been a bitsy kind of day, but you

143
00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:45,080
Speaker 3: may think on a Friday it's not all bad news.

144
00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:47,560
Speaker 4: Yes, the jury got a very early finish today, but

145
00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:50,120
Speaker 4: they will be back on Monday to continue hearing evidence,

146
00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:52,960
Speaker 4: and so will we. To stay up to date on

147
00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:55,760
Speaker 4: all the latest on this case, go to the mushroomcook

148
00:08:55,920 --> 00:08:59,679
Speaker 4: dot com dot au and stay tuned for our subscriber

149
00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:03,680
Speaker 4: ever Sewed on Sunday with veteran crime reporter Anthony Dowsling