Erin Patterson: Dr Chris Webster reveals why he faces losing his job after speaking out about mushroom killer
Dr Chris Webster, a key medical witness in the 11-week trial, testified that he first encountered Patterson at Leongatha Hospital on the morning of July 31, 2023, just two days after she served a beef Wellington meal laced with deadly death cap mushrooms to four family members.
Dr Webster called triple zero after Patterson abruptly discharged herself within five minutes of arriving at the hospital, despite medical advice to stay and receive treatment.
At the time, Patterson's former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, were in critical condition at Dandenong Hospital. Ian and Heather Wilkinson were receiving treatment at Leongatha Hospital after also consuming the meal.
Speaking to the
Herald Sun
, Dr Webster said he became suspicious when Patterson claimed she had purchased the mushrooms from Woolworths.
'If she said she picked them, it would have been a very different mindset for me because there would have been an instant assumption it was all a tragic accident,' he said.
'But once she said that answer, my thoughts were, 'holy f**king shit, you f**king did it, you crazy bitch, you poisoned them all'.
'The turning point for me was that moment.'
Dr Webster said Patterson was a 'disturbed sociopathic nut bag'.
'She wasn't freaking out about the safety of her children,' he said.
'Looking into her eyes, I thought 'I don't know what planet you're on but you're not on earth.'
Dr Webster, who practices in the Gippsland region of Victoria, now faces the prospect of losing his job amid backlash over his comments.
The clinic where he works has received formal complaints, including accusations of misogyny, which could be escalated to the medical board for investigation.
'I'm not that at all, that's not me,' Dr Webster told the
Daily Mail
.
'I stand by what I've done, this is very important. I'm happy to do all the media but it's become all too much now and I have engaged a lawyer and now gagged from any future media (in the short term).
'It's one thing copping these accusations on social media and Instagram but now it's formal complaints. I need to get home and back to work and sort this out, and once things are sorted I will speak again.
'One of the complaints accused me of talking about a 'patient of mine', they referred to Patterson as a 'patient of mine', not as a convicted killer,' he said.
Dr Webster says he plans to return to work next week and is eager to resume his duties as a rural doctor. However, he remains concerned that if the complaints are upheld, the medical board could launch an investigation.
According to Dr Webster, any adverse finding could result in suspension or even disqualification, depending on the severity of the outcome.
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