The doctor penalized for calling the murderer of fungi “ disturbed sociopath ”

An Australian doctor who raised the alarm about Erin Patterson was sanctioned by the medical regulator for derogatory comments made on the triple murderer.

Chris Webster was a key witness to the Patterson trial, during which a jury found him guilty of having killed three parents and tried to kill another with a mied mushroom lunch in 2023.

After the verdicts, Dr. Webster told the BBC that Patterson – now serving a perpetuity penalty – was an “odious individual” and called him a “disturbed sociopathic bag” in an interview with Herald Sun.

The Australian Medical Council noted that his actions were inappropriate and ordered that the general practitioner is undergoing ethics, privacy and training on social networks.

An investigation was launched when the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) received a flood of complaints concerning the interviews with the media of Dr Webster and the use of an explicit language.

Dr. Webster told the BBC on Friday that he had understood and accepted the decision of regulators – who had not publicly commented on his case but listed the conditions for a public register.

“Regarding my comments, I hold them,” said Dr. Webster, who still works like a general practitioner in the hometown of Patterson de Leongatha, in the Victoria region.

He said the regulators had found no violation of patients’ confidentiality because he was talking about questions that had been openly discussed during the murder trial.

“I was deemed inappropriate in my professionalism,” he said, “and that has to do with the use of salty language and my use of social media.”

Earlier this month, Patterson, 50, was sentenced to life, without any chance of freeing for at least 33 years, for the murder of his parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson and Gail Heather Wilkinson’s sister.

She was also found guilty of having tried to kill Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, using a toxic mushroom lunch at home.

Dr. Webster treated Wilkinsons in a tiny Leongatha hospital, before their mushroom poisoning was identified and were urgently transferred to a large installation in Melbourne.

He also saw Patterson – who claimed to have gastronomic symptoms – in the hospital, and said he knew she was almost immediately guilty.

“I knew,” he told BBC earlier.

“I said to myself:” Okay, yes, you did it, an odious person. You have all poisoned them “.”

An audio recording of his call for police regarding his decision to free himself from the hospital against medical advice was played at the trial.

The APHRA survey concluded that Dr. Webster must do at least eight hours of training on subjects such as professionalism and ethics, professional communication, privacy and confidentiality and social media.

He must also be supervised by another doctor for five hours a month for a period of one year, said Dr. Webster. He described it as “expensive condition”, which could force him to take a day off every week to go to Melbourne, and could mean that he has less time with patients.

“In the end, the community is also punished, and it’s disappointing,” he said.

“There has never been any questions about my skills and skills as a doctor. It is my attitude and my presentation, and perhaps in this modern world, this kind of thought could be a little archaic. Doctors are human beings.”

He added that he had the “full support” of the local community: “I’m not going anywhere. I just have to go back to school.”