An Australian doctor who treated triple murderer Erin Patterson and her victims after the deadly mushroom lunch has been slapped with conditions by the health regulator after speaking out about the case.
Dr Christopher Webster, a GP in the Victorian town of Leongatha, south-east of Melbourne, was a witness in Patterson’s trial earlier this year.
After she was found guilty of murdering three of her relatives and attempting to murder a fourth, Webster gave several media interviews about the case, including one in which he called Patterson a “crazy bitch”.
On Wednesday, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) placed conditions on his registration.
According to Ahpra’s register of practitioners, Webster’s conditions include that he must complete one-on-one education with an approved educator for a minimum of eight hours.
During the sessions, he must address the following topics, Ahpra said: professionalism and ethics, professional communication, privacy and confidentiality, complying with obligations under “Good medical practice: a code of conduct for doctors in Australia” and “Social media: how to meet your obligations under the national law”.
The register also says that Webster must complete the one-on-one education within six months and that once completed, he must be mentored.
This mentoring must take place for a minimum of five-hour-long sessions every month and completed within a year.
Webster was the first person to contact police after the July 2023 lunch, when he became concerned Patterson discharged herself against medical advice from the hospital.
During Patterson’s murder trial, Webster told the court she left the Leongatha hospital within five minutes of arriving, despite him telling her she required urgent treatment and that her guests, Don and Gail Patterson, and Ian and Heather Wilkinson, were gravely ill.
Webster called the police in an effort to have Patterson returned to the hospital.
“I had suggested to her that she had been exposed to potentially deadly death cap mushroom poisoning, and being in hospital would be a better place for her to be,” Webster told the court in May.
The lunch guests had arrived at hospital a day earlier. Don and Gail, the parents of Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon, and Heather, Gail’s sister, died within a week. Heather’s husband, Ian, was discharged from hospital months later, but has never fully recovered.
On 8 September, Patterson was sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 33 years for the murders of Don, Gail and Heather and the attempted murder of Ian.
