Sickened family used phone app to ID mushrooms
Posted: May 31, 2015 - 4:00am

LA PINE, Ore. (AP) — A sheriff's officer says four central Oregon residents were rushed to a hospital after they used a phone app to identify wild mushrooms but ended up consuming mushrooms that were poisonous.

KTVZ-TV reports (http://is.gd/aTJkfw ) that Deschutes County sheriff's Sgt. Doug Sullivan says deputies and medics responded Thursday afternoon to a report of poisoning on private property south of Sunriver.

He says two boys, ages 4 and 14, and a 34-year-old woman were showing symptoms of mushroom poisoning.  A 15-year-old boy who also ate the mushrooms wasn't showing symptoms but was taken to the hospital as a precaution.

Sullivan said members of several families living on the property ate the poisonous mushrooms after misidentifying them as edible with a phone app.

The sheriff's office reminds the public to learn the identifying features of mushrooms and to turn to experts and field guides to be sure. Sullivan urges using several field guides and adds, "when in doubt, don't consume wild mushrooms."