Court has wrapped up for the day.

Follow along tomorrow for more updates.

The court has heard from Dr Beth Morgan, a doctor who saw Don and Gail when they presented at Dandenong Hospital.

She said tests conducted on Donald returned abnormal results.

“With the abnormalities, the emergency department started an IV drip to replenish fluid to see if any of that helped.

“In cases like these, the first thing I would suspect was gastroenteritis, but it didn’t improve. “

Dr Morgan told the court Gail initially appeared in better condition than her husband, with her symptoms starting an hour after Don’s.

Dr Morgan said as the couple’s condition continued to rapidly deteriorate, she and other doctors consulted with each other about the possible cause of their illness.

Dr Morgan said one doctor raised the possibility the pair were suffering from death cap mushroom poisoning.

“There was a discussion about how the symptom onset was late.

“In food poisoning, we would normally see the onset around four hours later, not 12 hours, like in Donald’s case.

“This would be more indicative of a toxic poison syndrome.”

As medics began to suspect the four lunch guests had consumed death cap mushrooms, Dr Morgan said doctors treating the lunch guests began seeking the antidote.

“We were advised we didn’t have that at Monash Health, but they were going to obtain it from another hospital,” she said.

Dr Morgan said when her shift ended at 8am, she handed Don and Gail –who were by then in ICU – over to the care of the general medicine team.

She said she received a call from Dr Chris Webster at 8.30am that morning, as she was driving home.

Dr Morgan said he told her Erin Patterson had arrived at hospital with symptoms of gastro but had discharged herself against medical advice.

The court has heard from nurse Lisa Shannon, who worked as the after hours care manager at Korumburra Hospital in July 2023.

She said there were two beds in the urgent care area when Don and Gail arrived at the hospital.

Shannon confirmed the couple told her they were sick after eating a beef wellington at a lunch the previous day.

“Gail had informed me they had both taken an anti-nausea medication. This had worked for Gail, but not for Don,” she said.

“Don was considerably sicker and required more of my time. I remained in the urgent care room and I couldn’t leave because I was busy with both of those patients.

Shannon said she gave them cannulas to give them fluids through an IV drip, she did an ECG of their hearts, and checked their blood for electrolytes.

She said much of her shift was spent helping to take Don and Gail to the bathroom.

Shannon said tests performed on Don revealed he was struggling with a “metabolic disorder” which would require him to be immediately transferred to a tertiary hospital.

She explained a tertiary hospital is a hospital with a big emergency department with many doctors, where as Korumburra Hospital only had one doctor on call.

Shannon said the decision was made to transfer the couple to a bigger hospital.

Hyde told the court Don and Gail said they were suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea after attending a party the day before.

Hyde said when her colleague asked the couple what they had eaten, Don responded: ‘beef stroganoff’.

Hyde told the court Don laid down in the ambulance while Gail sat in a seat at the back of the vehicle.

Hyde said Don was rolled into the hospital in a stretcher, while Gail was able to walk in.

Ian Wilkinson has finished giving his witness testimony.

Mandy has suggested to Ian that Patterson said she suspected she may have cancer, rather than she had been diagnosed with cancer.

Ian disagreed, telling the court Patterson explicitly said she had been diagnosed.

“It wasn’t an impression. She said she had some sort of cancer,” Ian said.

“Her voice was low at that point. I couldn’t quite catch which type of cancer. She went on to speak about the scan.

“She said it was a serious situation.

“A situation that made her scared for her kids.”

Under cross-examination, defence barrister Colin Mandy SC has put it to Ian that once the plates were put on the lunch table, guests were free to sit at any of the spots.

Ian agreed and confirmed to Mandy there were no instructions as to which plate should be placed in front of which person.

Mandy: “Once those plates were placed on the table, any of you four guests could have sat in any of those spots, is that correct?

Ian: “Yes”

Mandy: “Can I suggest to you that there was no uniform set of plates being used by Erin on that day?”

Ian: ”There were four plates that were the same.”

Mandy: “Is it possible that there were two or three plates that were the same and one that was different?”

Ian: “No”

Ian Wilkinson has told the court that staff at Leongatha Hospital initially thought he and his wife had food poisoning.

“We had a conversation with the doctor on duty. He quizzed us on what we had been eating,” he said.

“My memory was that suspicion was falling on the meat.”

Ian said he did not recall there being any suspicion at that time about the mushrooms.

Even though he and Heather wished to go home, he said they were admitted to Leongatha Hospital.

Ian said he and his wife were “absolutely exhausted” and very sick that night as they laid in adjoining beds in the same ward.

He said the next morning he and Heather were abruptly woken by nurses who rushed them to an urgent care area of the hospital, where they spoke to the medic overseeing their care, Dr Chris Webster.

“Dr Webster had had communication from Dandenong Hospital indicating suspected mushroom poisoning,” Ian recalled.

“He was very frank. He said it is an extremely serious situation. He said it was time-critical and that we needed to be taken to Dandenong Hospital.”

Ian said he was loaded into an ambulance and Heather taken in a second to Dandenong Hospital.

He said, at that time, he was aware Don and Gail were also at Dandenong Hospital, and although he didn’t see them, he heard Gail’s voice in the pod next to them.

The court heard, soon after the transfer, Ian was given a charcoal drink, sedated, then slipped into a coma.

He was then transported to the Austin Hospital, where he stayed for several weeks receving treatment.

He was eventually discharged into a rehabilitation ward at the same hospital on 11 September, 2023.

Ian said he and Heather went to another social engagement after Patterson’s lunch before returning home.

Ian said he stayed up until about 10pm finishing some preparations for church, before the pair went to bed a short time later.

“I don’t think either of us had fallen asleep. Heather got up abruptly and went to the laundry and I could hear her vomiting.

“I felt alright when Heather initially got up, but it wasn’t very long after that that I also felt the need to go and vomit.

“It continued right through the night. We had vomiting and diarrhoea.”

Ian said he and his wife were so ill that they spent the night by toilets.

He said he and Heather were initially hesitant to go to hospital as they both felt it was “just gastro”, but eventually agreed upon Simon’s insistence.

“After the lunch she said she had cancer,” Ian said.

“She was very concerned because she believed it was life-threatening.

“She was anxious about telling the kids.

“In that moment I thought this is the reason we have been invited to the lunch.”

Ian said Patterson told the group which type of cancer she had at the lunch.

He said he could not distinctly recall which type she said, but it was something like cervical cancer.

“She said she had a diagnostic scan that showed a dark spot that was a tumour,” he said.

“The conversation moved quite quickly to the anxiety she expressed (earlier about telling the kids).

“She asked (us) ‘What do you think I should do?’

“Don spoke first and said he thought it would be best to be honest with the kids.

“There was (then) general conversation and that is what we all thought.”

Ian said the conversation came to an end when the group realised that one of Patterson’s children and his friend had been dropped home and the two children would be entering the house soon.