Woman dies after eating wild mushroom

The woman who died after eating poisonous mushrooms helped hospital staff identify the fungus that would later kill her after she arrived at the emergency room with intestinal pain, the Westchester Medical Examiner said today.

Zoila Tapia, a 61-year-old White Plains resident ate the white mushrooms Sunday, after picking them at a Bedford rest stop on Interstate 684. She went to the White Plains Hospital the next night.

Westchester County Medical Examiner Dr. Millard Hyland said by the time Tapia sought medical help, her kidney and liver functions were already compromised and her chances for survival were quickly declining.

"This is a really treacherous poison," Hyland said. "These nature poisons go right to the target tissue - the liver cells and kidney cells. When these organs start failing, then you have digestive problems. It's too late at that point."

Tapia died Thursday - four days after ingesting the mushrooms - in the hospital, Westchester County Health Department said.

Poisoning symptoms include vomiting, severe abdominal pain, internal bleeding, kidney failure, and eventually death.

The county Health Department cautioned against eating any mushrooms found in the wild, because it is difficult to distinguish poisonous varieties from edible ones.

"Obviously this is extremely rare," Health Department spokeswoman Caren Halbfinger said of the poisoning death. "It is very unfortunate."

The state Department of Transportation, which maintains the rest stop, has already removed some of the mushrooms.

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