In an article that opens with “here is a list of things I know and books I read, and here’s how I poisoned myself anyway.”
The death rate for Mushroom Poisoning in the US was apparently something like 2.9 per year since year 2000.
He's really just discounting the 99.something% who survive for effect because two died in the hospital he was at. If that is even true.
For this mushroom, it's certainly worse than that. It seems likely to me somebody quoted him the "without medical attention" survival rate.
> "Mushroom poisoning is more common in Europe than in America.[71] Up to the mid-20th century, the mortality rate was around 60–70%, but this has been greatly reduced with advances in medical care. A review of death cap poisoning throughout Europe from 1971 to 1980 found the overall mortality rate to be 22.4% (51.3% in children under ten and 16.5% in those older than ten).[72] This has fallen further in more recent surveys to around 10–15%.[73]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_phalloides#Similarity_...
The people dying was the outlier
But they do find time in the article to pass some judgment on "busy" "city" folks and their presumed inability to endure silence. Even though that's a different kind of "judgment" than the kind demonstrated above, I find it somehow hard to be receptive to it... 8)
"Destroying angels are sometimes mistaken for edible mushrooms such as young puffballs, button mushrooms, and meadow mushrooms."
It's more like confusing a grapefruit with a kitten or something.