Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Another person dies from poisonous mushrooms at senior care facility.


www.med-art.com

The AP (11/27) reports that "a fourth person has died from eating a soup made with poisonous mushrooms earlier this month at senior care facility in Northern California, authorities said Tuesday." Local police authorities have identified the latest victim as 92 year-old Dorothy Mary Hart. The article points out that "three others at the six-bed Gold Age Villa care facility in Loomis died from eating the mushrooms in what sheriff's investigators characterize as an accident." According to the AP, "all of the victims were sickened Nov. 8, including the caretaker who made the soup after picking mushrooms in the backyard of the facility." California's Department of Social Services is currently investigating the incident.
        In its "L.A. Now" blog, the Los Angeles Times (11/28, Pool, 692K) notes that "wild mushrooms are in season now, including poisonous North American amanitas that resemble edible mushrooms that are popular in Asia. White with a sprinkling of brown over the cap and known as the 'death cap,' the mushrooms sicken hundreds each year in California." According to the blog, "health officials say toxins in the mushrooms cause liver damage and can lead to comas and, occasionally, death, especially with older people." 

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