Deadly Mushrooms Kill Two Residents In California Assisted Living Home

It’s mushroom season in California, a time when eager foragers roll up their sleeves and look around for the luscious mushrooms, including yummy chanterelles. However, with the good and edible comes the bad, and a recent forager and elderly home learned the sort of damage mushrooms can cause when two residents died after ingesting mushrooms of a poisonous variety.

The Gold Age Villa Assisted Living facility, located near Sacramento, California, has always been known for it’s home-cooked meals and homey care. The owner of the residency is a woman named Raisa Oselsky. However, it's unclear if she or another caretaker made a large mistake with one of these home-cooked endeavors on Sunday, when poisonous mushrooms were added to the evening’s soup. According to the Sacramento Bee, the mushrooms were of the genus amanita, which features the death cap variety of mushrooms, as well as a slew of other poisonous varieties.

The home consisted of six residents and some caretakers. As of this writing, two victims have died from the accidental poisoning, and the four residents plus the caregiver who put together the soup are ill.

As a result of this high level of foolishness, California health officials issued new warnings about wild mushrooms for state residents. Suffice it to say, if you aren’t 100% sure about what you are picking, there’s no reason to pick the item, much less put it into food you are creating for others. There’s no reason 1,700 mushroom-related illnesses should be reported in California state alone each year.

Pop Blend’s heart goes out to those affected by the tragedy.