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Woman died after eating poisonous mushrooms picked in her own garden
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Jun 18, 2013, 6:44:50 PM6/18/13
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Woman died after eating poisonous mushrooms picked in her own garden
Christina Hale made soup from lethal death cap mushrooms
The Independent
May 9, 2013
A Somerset housewife died after eating one of the world's
most deadly mushrooms - which she had picked in her
garden, an inquest has heard.
Christina Hale, 57, did not realise she had gathered
poisonous death cap�mushrooms�and used them to cook soup
for her and her husband.
Mrs Hale, who found the�mushrooms�in the couple's large
garden in Bridgwater, Somerset, ate a large quantity of
the soup for her evening meal.
Her husband Jocelyn Lynch, 49, had a smaller amount as he
also ate stew for dinner, West Somerset Coroner's Court
heard.
The couple began to feel unwell the following morning and
their condition deteriorated, with both rushed to
Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton two days later.
Mrs Hale tragically suffered from multiple organ failure
and died the following day in intensive care surrounded
by her family.
Mr Lynch, who had been married to Mrs Hale for 13 years,
recovered from his ordeal and was allowed to return home.
The inquest in Taunton heard that consuming just half a
death cap mushroom can be fatal and there is no antidote.
Mr Lynch told the court his wife picked the�mushrooms
while he was at work in nearby Weston-super-Mare and he
did not know how many had been cooked in the soup.
The property developer said: "We had picked�mushrooms�for
mushroom soup before. She hadn't done it on her own
before.
"My wife prepared the soup while I was at work. Normally
it was added to a can of Campbell's condensed soup.
"I had a bowl of mushroom soup that she gave me. She made
the soup her main meal. All I know is I had one bowlful,
I don't know how much the wife had.
"She might have eaten some throughout the day while she
was preparing it."
Mr Lynch said the couple felt unwell by the morning after
they had consumed the soup, on November 15 last year.
He went to work but had to return home, where he found
his wife also suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea.
They spent much of the night in separate bathrooms and
the following morning, November 17, a Saturday, Mrs Hale
called an out-of-hours service.
The inquest heard Mrs Hale told the operator she had
"eaten some dodgy�mushrooms" and a doctor arrived at
midday to examine her.
Mr Lynch said: "I was present in the room. The doctor
felt it was norovirus. She thought the mushroom soup was
incidental.
"With the norovirus, she was concerned that being
presented to hospital, the hospital wouldn't be best
pleased."
Mrs Hale was given an injection to stop her from vomiting
and capsules to stop diarrhoea.
She seemed to "pluck up" afterwards and remained in the
lounge to sleep that night, Mr Lynch said.
But he was woken up by shouting from downstairs just
before midnight and found his wife being treated by a
doctor and a team of paramedics.
Mrs Hale, who had called the doctor herself, was rushed
to the accident and emergency department at Musgrove Park
Hospital by ambulance.
Her husband attempted to drive to the hospital after her
but felt too unwell and had to be taken there, where he
was admitted.
Dr Helene Lindsay, a consultant in intensive care and
anaesthetics, told the court Mrs Hale suffered a number
of cardiac arrests at the hospital.
Her heart, which had been poisoned, stopped at least four
times and the deadly toxins also struck her kidney and
liver.
Doctors caring for Mrs Hale consulted experts at the
National Poison Centre in Cardiff, who identified the
mushrooms�by photographs sent by email.
Dr Lindsay told the court that even if Mrs Hale had been
admitted to hospital earlier, she probably would still
have died.
She said: "It may well have been that Christina had
ingested enough of a quantity of�mushrooms�that whatever
happened she was going to die.
"With a death cap mushroom just half a mushroom is enough
to kill someone."
The consultant said she believed there were just a few
cases of death cap mushroom poisoning in the UK each
year.
She said the only treatment that could have helped Mrs
Hale was a liver transplant but she was too unstable to
travel to a specialist ward by ambulance - even if an
organ had been available.
Mrs Hale died from multiple organ failure at the hospital
on November 19, four days after eating the�mushrooms.
West Somerset Coroner's Court Michael Rose praised the
efforts of medics who battled to save the housewife.
He recorded a verdict of death by misadventure at the
inquest, which was attended by Mrs Hale's family and
friends.
The coroner said: "This is a very tragic case.
"The tragedy is that Christina had wanted some soup, she
had picked�mushrooms�before to bolster and enhance
Campbells mushroom soup.
"She had picked out what we now know are death cap
mushrooms, they contain many poisons. Half a mushroom has
been known to kill people.
"I have a suspicion that Mrs Hale took a considerable
amount. The problem with these�mushrooms�is that if you
do eat them it does not taste unpleasant."
Mr Rose said the delay in Mrs Hale attending hospital had
not affected her chances of survival.
He said: "I am quite satisfied by the evidence that the
assault that had been made from the toxins into the body
of Christina was too great to survive.
"Even if she had been sent to Musgrove Park Hospital it
would not have affected the outcome.
"I am impressed by the level and standard of treatment at
the hospital.
"I would like to think that with the treatment she was
given, she would have been oblivious to the final
outcome."
Mr Rose warned others to be careful when picking
mushrooms.
He said: "I think the lesson is one should never pick
mushrooms, particularly under trees, unless you know
exactly what you are doing."
The medical cause of death was recorded as multiple organ
failure due to death cap�mushrooms.
Death cap�mushrooms, amanita phalloides, have a similar
appearance to safe varieties.
PA
More at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/woman-died-after-eating-poisonous-mushrooms-picked-in-her-own-garden-8609719.html
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
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o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used
for the educational purposes of research and open
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authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion
of the poster. The contents are protected by copyright
law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
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not be read, considered or answered if it does not
contain your full legal name, current e-mail and postal
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o Posted for information and discussion. Views
expressed by others are not necessarily those of the
poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted
material the use of which may or may not have been
specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This
material is being made available in efforts to advance
the understanding of environmental, political, human
rights, economic, democratic, scientific, social, and
cultural, etc., issues. It is believed that this
constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material
as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the
material on this site is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving
the included information for research, comment,
discussion and educational purposes by subscribing to
USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more
information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article
for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Since newsgroup posts are being removed by forgery by one
or more net terrorists, this post may be reposted several
times.
Christina Hale made soup from lethal death cap mushrooms
The Independent
May 9, 2013
A Somerset housewife died after eating one of the world's
most deadly mushrooms - which she had picked in her
garden, an inquest has heard.
Christina Hale, 57, did not realise she had gathered
poisonous death cap�mushrooms�and used them to cook soup
for her and her husband.
Mrs Hale, who found the�mushrooms�in the couple's large
garden in Bridgwater, Somerset, ate a large quantity of
the soup for her evening meal.
Her husband Jocelyn Lynch, 49, had a smaller amount as he
also ate stew for dinner, West Somerset Coroner's Court
heard.
The couple began to feel unwell the following morning and
their condition deteriorated, with both rushed to
Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton two days later.
Mrs Hale tragically suffered from multiple organ failure
and died the following day in intensive care surrounded
by her family.
Mr Lynch, who had been married to Mrs Hale for 13 years,
recovered from his ordeal and was allowed to return home.
The inquest in Taunton heard that consuming just half a
death cap mushroom can be fatal and there is no antidote.
Mr Lynch told the court his wife picked the�mushrooms
while he was at work in nearby Weston-super-Mare and he
did not know how many had been cooked in the soup.
The property developer said: "We had picked�mushrooms�for
mushroom soup before. She hadn't done it on her own
before.
"My wife prepared the soup while I was at work. Normally
it was added to a can of Campbell's condensed soup.
"I had a bowl of mushroom soup that she gave me. She made
the soup her main meal. All I know is I had one bowlful,
I don't know how much the wife had.
"She might have eaten some throughout the day while she
was preparing it."
Mr Lynch said the couple felt unwell by the morning after
they had consumed the soup, on November 15 last year.
He went to work but had to return home, where he found
his wife also suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea.
They spent much of the night in separate bathrooms and
the following morning, November 17, a Saturday, Mrs Hale
called an out-of-hours service.
The inquest heard Mrs Hale told the operator she had
"eaten some dodgy�mushrooms" and a doctor arrived at
midday to examine her.
Mr Lynch said: "I was present in the room. The doctor
felt it was norovirus. She thought the mushroom soup was
incidental.
"With the norovirus, she was concerned that being
presented to hospital, the hospital wouldn't be best
pleased."
Mrs Hale was given an injection to stop her from vomiting
and capsules to stop diarrhoea.
She seemed to "pluck up" afterwards and remained in the
lounge to sleep that night, Mr Lynch said.
But he was woken up by shouting from downstairs just
before midnight and found his wife being treated by a
doctor and a team of paramedics.
Mrs Hale, who had called the doctor herself, was rushed
to the accident and emergency department at Musgrove Park
Hospital by ambulance.
Her husband attempted to drive to the hospital after her
but felt too unwell and had to be taken there, where he
was admitted.
Dr Helene Lindsay, a consultant in intensive care and
anaesthetics, told the court Mrs Hale suffered a number
of cardiac arrests at the hospital.
Her heart, which had been poisoned, stopped at least four
times and the deadly toxins also struck her kidney and
liver.
Doctors caring for Mrs Hale consulted experts at the
National Poison Centre in Cardiff, who identified the
mushrooms�by photographs sent by email.
Dr Lindsay told the court that even if Mrs Hale had been
admitted to hospital earlier, she probably would still
have died.
She said: "It may well have been that Christina had
ingested enough of a quantity of�mushrooms�that whatever
happened she was going to die.
"With a death cap mushroom just half a mushroom is enough
to kill someone."
The consultant said she believed there were just a few
cases of death cap mushroom poisoning in the UK each
year.
She said the only treatment that could have helped Mrs
Hale was a liver transplant but she was too unstable to
travel to a specialist ward by ambulance - even if an
organ had been available.
Mrs Hale died from multiple organ failure at the hospital
on November 19, four days after eating the�mushrooms.
West Somerset Coroner's Court Michael Rose praised the
efforts of medics who battled to save the housewife.
He recorded a verdict of death by misadventure at the
inquest, which was attended by Mrs Hale's family and
friends.
The coroner said: "This is a very tragic case.
"The tragedy is that Christina had wanted some soup, she
had picked�mushrooms�before to bolster and enhance
Campbells mushroom soup.
"She had picked out what we now know are death cap
mushrooms, they contain many poisons. Half a mushroom has
been known to kill people.
"I have a suspicion that Mrs Hale took a considerable
amount. The problem with these�mushrooms�is that if you
do eat them it does not taste unpleasant."
Mr Rose said the delay in Mrs Hale attending hospital had
not affected her chances of survival.
He said: "I am quite satisfied by the evidence that the
assault that had been made from the toxins into the body
of Christina was too great to survive.
"Even if she had been sent to Musgrove Park Hospital it
would not have affected the outcome.
"I am impressed by the level and standard of treatment at
the hospital.
"I would like to think that with the treatment she was
given, she would have been oblivious to the final
outcome."
Mr Rose warned others to be careful when picking
mushrooms.
He said: "I think the lesson is one should never pick
mushrooms, particularly under trees, unless you know
exactly what you are doing."
The medical cause of death was recorded as multiple organ
failure due to death cap�mushrooms.
Death cap�mushrooms, amanita phalloides, have a similar
appearance to safe varieties.
PA
More at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/woman-died-after-eating-poisonous-mushrooms-picked-in-her-own-garden-8609719.html
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.jai-maharaj
o o o
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used
for the educational purposes of research and open
discussion. The contents of this post may not have been
authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion
of the poster. The contents are protected by copyright
law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely
not be read, considered or answered if it does not
contain your full legal name, current e-mail and postal
addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views
expressed by others are not necessarily those of the
poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted
material the use of which may or may not have been
specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This
material is being made available in efforts to advance
the understanding of environmental, political, human
rights, economic, democratic, scientific, social, and
cultural, etc., issues. It is believed that this
constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material
as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the
material on this site is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving
the included information for research, comment,
discussion and educational purposes by subscribing to
USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more
information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article
for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Since newsgroup posts are being removed by forgery by one
or more net terrorists, this post may be reposted several
times.
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