An Australian doctor who raised the alarm about Erin Patterson has been sanctioned by the medical regulator over disparaging comments made about the triple murderer.
Chris Webster was a key witness in Patterson’s trial, at which a jury found her guilty of killing three relatives and attempting to kill another with a deadly mushroom lunch in 2023.
After the verdicts, Dr Webster told BBC that Patterson – now serving a life sentence – was a “heinous individual” and called her a “disturbed sociopathic nut-bag” in an interview with the Herald Sun.
The Medical Board of Australia found his actions were inappropriate and ordered that the general practitioner undergo ethics, privacy and social media training.
An investigation was launched when the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) received a flood of complaints about Dr Webster’s media interviews and use of explicit language.
Dr Webster told the BBC on Friday that he understood and accepted the decision from regulators – who have not publicly commented on his case but listed the conditions on a public register.
“As far as my comments go, I stand by them,” said Dr Webster, who still works as a GP in Patterson’s home town of Leongatha, in regional Victoria.
He said that regulators did not find any breach of patient confidentiality, as he was talking about matters that had been openly discussed in the murder trial.
“I was found to be inappropriate in my professionalism,” he said, “and that has to do with the use of salty language and my use of social media.”