UK death cap fatality

[Geoff Dann]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ing-mushrooms-garden-Bridgwater-Somerset.html

A woman has died after eating some of the world's most poisonous mushrooms; she ate the deadly death cap mushrooms after foraging them from the garden of her home.

Doctors at a hospital in Taunton, Somerset, battled to save her but she died of multiple organ failure in intensive care on November 19.

One less idiot in the world. Am I being too harsh? I don't think so. There is no excuse for eating a death cap apart from being an idiot, or trusting one with your life.

 

[Toddy]

I think you're being harsh

The lady is dead and her husband is seriously ill.

To take it as a lesson to be learned and talked about is one thing; to denigrate them is another.

Mushroom foraging isn't a simple thing for the vast majority of the population. Even those of us who do it, usually only feel utterly confident of ID ing a few species.

Now go and do something positive about it; post clear photos and descriptions of the death cap so that no one else makes the same mistake.

Toddy

 

[Mesquite]

One less idiot in the world. Am I being too harsh? I don't think so. There is no excuse for eating a death cap apart from being an idiot, or trusting one with your life.

Personally I think you're being too harsh but then that's your opinion.

I just feel sorry for her husband and the family she leaves behind

 

[mountainm]

overly harsh.. sanctimonious even. Mistakes get made, accidents happen. Lets not crow about them - but learn from them.

 

[mountainm]

Mods/Geoff - perhaps remove her name from the thread? A relative may google her in search of how the press are reporting it. It would be awful for them to stumble across this.

 

[Johnnyboy1971]

Ide be inclined to go away and think about your comment or have you never made a mistake before.
Yes its an unfortunate mistake that has resulted in the death of someone but to put a comment like 'one less idiot' is just
immature.

 

[MartinK9]

but to put a comment like 'one less idiot' is just
immature.

Looks like she's been replaced already by the OP

 

[dave53]

well said all the above as toddy said put some pics up and try and be a bit more helpful and less negative regards dave

 

[Fat Rog]

Bit harsh, even so called experts have been known to get it wrong. This website has some good photos and info on what to look for http://www.first-nature.com/fungi/amanita-phalloides.php

Extract from the site: " Deathcaps at the button stage could also be mistaken for edible puffballs such as Lycoperdon perlatum, the Common Puffball, or Lycoperdon pyriforme, the Stump Puffball; however, if the fruitbody is cut in half longitudinally the volva of Amanita phalloides, the Deathcap, would immediately become apparent."

I might be missing out but this is exactly why I don't forage for shrooms.

My thoughts are with her family.

 

[Geoff Dann]

I think you're being harsh

The lady is dead and her husband is seriously ill.

To take it as a lesson to be learned and talked about is one thing; to denigrate them is another.

Mushroom foraging isn't a simple thing for the vast majority of the population. Even those of us who do it, usually only feel utterly confident of ID ing a few species.

Now go and do something positive about it; post clear photos and descriptions of the death cap so that no one else makes the same mistake.

Toddy

Isn't it the first mushroom any would-be forager should learn, though?

It isn't a nice way to die, and I know nothing of the individual circumstances of this case, but I do find it incredible that anybody goes picking fungi to eat without making sure they first know what a Death Cap looks like. I know in my own case that I was looking out for this mushroom from day one of my foraging career. It actually took me several years to find one, but they really aren't that hard to recognise.

 

[Geoff Dann]

Mods/Geoff - perhaps remove her name from the thread? A relative may google her in search of how the press are reporting it. It would be awful for them to stumble across this.

How should the press be reporting it, do you think?

 

[mountainm]

How should the press be reporting it, do you think?

Factually, without judgement.

 

[mountainm]

Isn't it the first mushroom any would-be forager should learn, though?

It isn't a nice way to die, and I know nothing of the individual circumstances of this case, but I do find it incredible that anybody goes picking fungi to eat without making sure they first know what a Death Cap looks like. I know in my own case that I was looking out for this mushroom from day one of my foraging career. It actually took me several years to find one, but they really aren't that hard to recognise.

OK - this is fine for you. You know about deathcaps. Someone else may not, they may think the poisonous mushrooms are the obviously red and spotty ones and everything else is fair game, they may mistakenly think the death cap in there garden looks like the shop bought mushrooms they ate last week - or they may have picked mushrooms from the same spot before in the garden on someone elses advice and not thought that possibly a different species could grow in the same place. Someone else who's opinion they respect may have given them false information.

There are so many assumptions we could make that we simply cannot pass judgement.

 

[Geoff Dann]

As for the general discussion about "one less idiot"....

I don't doubt I would feel very differently if I knew the people involved, but I do also consider these cases to be candidates for the infamous "Darwin Awards." A lot of people are very scared to go picking mushrooms, but the truth is that it isn't really as dangerous as the mainstream media likes to make out it is, or as many people who have never researched the subject think it is. There really aren't that many mushrooms that can kill you, and those that do exist should be avoidable relatively easily.

They belong to the following groups:

Amanita (3 of them)
Lepiota (2 of them)
Cortinarius (at least 3 of them, but the whole (enormous) genus should be avoided)
Galerina (1)

The other nasty ones contain muscarine, but these only kill people who already have weak hearts or breathing troubles, or those who eat vast quantities of the fungus involved.

The thing is...most of the above list don't look much like anything that most people would go foraging for. The only one that you are really likely to mix up with a good edible is Amanita phalloides, which is helpfully called a "death cap" in order to draw attention to this fact.

 

[Geoff Dann]

OK - this is fine for you. You know about deathcaps. Someone else may not...

How can anybody who even considers foraging for mushrooms not know about death caps?? I mean...are they living on a different planet to the rest of us?

There are so many assumptions we could make that we simply cannot pass judgement.

I accept we know little/nothing about this particular case.

 

[mountainm]

How can anybody who even considers foraging for mushrooms not know about death caps?? I mean...are they living on a different planet to the rest of us?



I accept we know little/nothing about this particular case.

You're looking at it from the point of view of an expert - look at it from the point of view of someone who knows nothing of mushrooms apart from there's red and white spotty ones called toadstools and there's white ones you can eat. If you don't know there's danger - you don't contemplate the repercussions.

 

[rik_uk3]

But the press did not call the lady an idiot did they? Very sad for all involved.

 

[Lister]

The darwin in me agrees with the OP, to put it another way, would you pick up a gun if you didn't know which end the bullet came out of.....most would say NO.

Just because it grows in your garden, doesn't mean it's safe. whatever happened to not eating something unless you know where it came from?

 

[mountainm]

The darwin in me agrees with the OP, to put it another way, would you pick up a gun if you didn't know which end the bullet came out of.....most would say NO.

Just because it grows in your garden, doesn't mean it's safe. whatever happened to not eating something unless you know where it came from?

If you see a blackberry growing wild you may eat it - you're certain it's a blackberry, that's why you eat it. You may do the same in another country, without knowing there's a very similar plant that's highly toxic....

 

[mountainm]

The darwin in me agrees with the OP, to put it another way, would you pick up a gun if you didn't know which end the bullet came out of.....most would say NO.

To take your example to it's logical conclusion - you may do if you didn't know what a gun was - you may even look down the tube (that's what you do with telescopes) and then when you only see blackness you may look for a way to open the lens cap.