An elderly woman has died after mistakenly eating poisonous mushrooms she picked from her garden for dinner with tuna and rice.

Loreta Maria Del Rossi, 98, from Bayswater, in Melbourne’s east, died on May 22 this year from organ failure.

She was found to have suffered poisoning from amatoxins, found in deathcap and yellowing mushrooms, Victoria Coroner Judge John Cain said in his findings released this week.

Ms Del Rossi grew her own vegetables and was known to gather wild herbs for herself and her adult son, Nicola, with whom she lived, the coroner said in his findings.

In April this year, Ms Del Rossi spotted mushrooms in her garden and asked her son if he thought they were safe to eat.

She washed and cleaned the mushrooms and put them in a meal with tuna and rice.

Neither Ms. Del Rossi nor her son fell ill and a few weeks later, on May 15, she decided to pick mushrooms from the garden again to prepare the same meal for dinner.

Ms. Del Rossi woke up in the middle of the night and started vomiting, telling her son that the mushrooms were no good.

Elderly woman living in Melbourne died after mistakenly eating suspected poisonous mushrooms for a tuna and rice dinner (pictured is poisonous deathcap and yellowing mushrooms)

At around 6am the next morning, Nicola also started vomiting and the pair called an ambulance.

Nicola and her mother were taken to hospital, but Ms Del Rossi’s condition deteriorated and she told medical staff she was in a lot of pain.

In accordance with her wishes, Ms. Del Rossi’s treatment was discontinued and she was transferred to palliative care. She died on May 22.

Mr Cain said in his findings that yellowing mushrooms are often confused with edible mushrooms bought in supermarkets.

Deathcap mushrooms are usually white, yellow, and brown or green in color.

The coroner has issued an urgent warning over the consumption of wild mushrooms and said more public awareness was needed.

“I therefore recommend that the Department of Health, in conjunction with the Victoria Poisons Information Centre, design an annual advertising campaign that can be launched each year in early autumn when wild mushrooms are prevalent in Victoria, highlighting the dangers consumption of wild mushrooms,” he says.

Ms Del Rossi’s death comes as a date is set for the trial of alleged mushroom killer Erin Patterson.

Erin Patterson murder trial to begin April 28 in Victoria

Ms Patterson’s murder trial will begin on April 28.

The 49-year-old faces three counts of murder over the deaths of his stepfather Don Patterson, stepmother Gail Patterson and extended relative Heather Wilkinson, after inviting the trio to lunch at her in Leongatha, Victoria, in July last year.

She is accused of the attempted murder of her ex-husband Simon Patterson – who was invited to the lunch but did not attend – and two other alleged attempts on her life in 2022, and another in 2021.

Patterson is also accused of the attempted murder of Pastor Ian Wilkinson, who was present at the lunch but survived after a long struggle to survive in hospital.