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A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

cleveland.com

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Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#161

Post by dzhiurgis »

Merad wrote: post #147
1letterunixname wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A bicycle accident bill can be over 100k USD without any surgery or being admitted overnight. Having a stroke can be 500-600k which might cause another upon seeing the bill.

The US healthcare system is all kinds of messed up, but this sounds like FUD territory. I was hospitalized for 12 days earlier this year for what ended up being a heart issue. Not as "exciting" as a stroke perhaps but I'd have ended up very dead without modern medicine. The total bill sent to insurance was $85k and I ended up having to pay $5k.

> ended up having to pay $5k.

Still outrageous. In Spain you pay 300 euro a month and in Lithuania it’s like 50 per month. So what you paid buys years of insurance on its own.

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#162

Post by psd1 »

duskwuff wrote: post #123
dmitrybrant wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's cultural knowledge passed down through generations. Mushroom foraging is super popular in Russia and other Slavic countries, and my grandmother taught me most of the fundamentals before we immigrated to the US, and I continued to study field guide books on my own. When you get to know the specific bits of anatomy of the mushroom body, the trees with which they're symbiotic, the seasons in which they occur, etc.,…

Incidentally, I've heard that a significant number of people get poisoned by mushrooms when they learned to recognize edible mushrooms in another country (often China or Eastern Europe), then move to the US and try to forage for mushrooms here. Knowing one region's edible/poisonous mushrooms doesn't make you an expert on anything outside that region.

Ugh. That happened to me when I dated a Chinese girl. She poisoned us both. I was too young and callow to put my foot down.

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#163

Post by orbital-decay »

WalterBright wrote: post #93
dmitrybrant wrote: post #69

I've been foraging mushrooms for 30+ years, and I triple-check every single specimen before cooking it. The idea of a novice forager using an app to identify mushrooms is... unconscionable! Like... breathtakingly stupid. I've commented on this before, but it continues to baffle me how poorly-educated our public is about wild plants, berries, and mushrooms. And stories like this just perpetuate the fear (and stigma?)…

If I was an expert, I still wouldn't eat them after triple-checking them. I don't think they taste so good that they're worth any risk. It's not like they're chocolate.

Depends. Certain varieties like penny bun can taste superb, and in most areas you're extremely unlikely to confuse them with anything poisonous or even inedible.

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#164

Post by colechristensen »

DangitBobby wrote: post #111
SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you’re misunderstanding the point here. Mushroom identification isn’t the same as bike selling or rock identification because the purpose of those isn’t to avoid danger. Almost the entire purpose is to reduce the “rolling the dice” factor in mushroom eating. In fact, that is precisely why traditional mushroom identification has such a wealth of deep knowledge, such as noticing ecological location, weather pat…

I don't think the intended purpose of the app is to tell you whether a mushroom or plant is edible or not, I think it's merely meant to identify plants, fungi, and other things for a hobbyist who's into botany and the like. I could definitely see where you're coming from if the app advertised itself as a "a great wilderness survival companion app" or something like that... But we're pretty much speculating, here. Thi…

It doesn’t matter what the app intends to do. You should not under any circumstances identify mushrooms without loudly and clearly spelling out specific dangers.

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#165

Post by quantum_magpie »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #161
Merad wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US healthcare system is all kinds of messed up, but this sounds like FUD territory. I was hospitalized for 12 days earlier this year for what ended up being a heart issue. Not as "exciting" as a stroke perhaps but I'd have ended up very dead without modern medicine. The total bill sent to insurance was $85k and I ended up having to pay $5k.

> ended up having to pay $5k. Still outrageous. In Spain you pay 300 euro a month and in Lithuania it’s like 50 per month. So what you paid buys years of insurance on its own.

Social security is 20% of your salary in Lithuania. 50€ if you're unemployed. Although it does cover healthcare, unemployment and part of retirement pensions. Probably something more, but I don't know further details.

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#166

Post by dzhiurgis »

ceejayoz wrote: post #14
chasil wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My farmers' market has a mushroom guy that brings in things that I've never seen before. Some of them get expensive and a few I've found rather unpleasant. There is absolutely no way that I could find these things myself, so I would suggest a dealer like this if you are in an area large enough to support one. This is the dealer at my market: https://www.wildgrowthgourmetmushrooms.com/

I just wish I could find a morel, chanterelle, and porcini dealer.

> chanterelle

How do you cook them? They are pretty cheap here so I tried number of times this summer and found the flavour just not worth the cleanup hassle. Maybe they are different in NA. IIRC the traditional method here is to boil them and then cook with bacon and onion, so chances of their flavour is 0.

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#167

Post by elteto »

junglistguy wrote: post #149
WalterBright wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I was an expert, I still wouldn't eat them after triple-checking them. I don't think they taste so good that they're worth any risk. It's not like they're chocolate.

If everyone was like you, we would never have made it to the moon

… it does look like a mushroom, maybe you are onto something here.

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#168

Post by dzhiurgis »

quantum_magpie wrote: post #165
dzhiurgis wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ended up having to pay $5k. Still outrageous. In Spain you pay 300 euro a month and in Lithuania it’s like 50 per month. So what you paid buys years of insurance on its own.

Social security is 20% of your salary in Lithuania. 50€ if you're unemployed. Although it does cover healthcare, unemployment and part of retirement pensions. Probably something more, but I don't know further details.

Do you know what is the actual spend per capita and does 50 cover it? Sounds like a good metric to go by.

P.S. not a fan how the social taxes are collected since whenever you are supposed to get benefits it’s always capped at some ridiculous number…

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#170

Post by Ekaros »

allisdust wrote: post #138

I never understood why people don't just eat store bought mushrooms. Why risk liver failure and other serious health complications not to mention countless hours of hospital time over something as trivial as eating wild mushrooms. Why not teach in school explicitly to not eat wild mushrooms and may be teach how to farm safe varieties if someone desperately needs to eat their own picked ones.

Why do people cook food and not buy it only from restaurants with rigorous health and safety checks in place? Could avoid lot of food poisonings that way.
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