An Australian doctor who succeeded in convicting poison killer Erin Patterson has been chastised for making derogatory comments about her.
GP Chris Webster was a key witness at Patterson’s trial, where a jury found her guilty of killing three relatives and attempting to kill another. The woman poisoned them with mushrooms in 2023.
After the verdict, Dr Webster told the BBC that Patterson was a “horrible person” and in an interview with the Herald Sun he described her as a “sociopathic headache”.
The Medical Council of Australia deemed his actions inappropriate and ordered training on ethics, privacy and social media use.
The investigation began after the Australian Health Professionals Regulation Authority (Ahpra) received a flood of r. Webster told the BBC that he understood and agreed with the decision of the regulatory commission, which did not comment publicly on his case but did enter it into the public register.
“As far as my comments are concerned, I’m not retracting them,” said Dr Webster, who still works as a family doctor in his hometown of Patterson Leongati in the Australian state of Victoria.
He said the review board found no breach of patient confidentiality because he spoke about what was openly discussed in court.
‘My professionalism was found to be inappropriate,’ he said, ‘this was due to my disrespectful statements and use of social media&q uot;.
Photo by PAUL Tikwin
Earlier this month, Patterson, 50, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release for at least 33 years for the murders of her father-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson.
She was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson. She treated relatives to a poisonous mushroom dinner at her home.
Dr Webster treated the Wilkinsons at the tiny hospital in Leongatha when they were diagnosed with mushroom poisoning and urgently transferred to a large Melbourne facility.
He also examined Patterson, who claimed she also had a digestive disorder. But, the doctor said, he realised almost immediately that she was at fault.
‘I knew,’ he told the BBC earlier.
‘I thought, Yes, you did this, you’re a terrible person. You poisoned them all. e will mean less time for patients.
“At the end of the day, the community is being penalised too and that’s frustrating,” he said.
“There has never been any doubt about my competence and skills as a doctor. It’s all about my attitudes and expressions. It may sound a bit archaic in today’s world, but doctors are human beings too.”
He added that the local community supports him, “I’m not going anywhere. I just need to learn again.”