Disabled man awarded £1m damages

A 28-year-old Teesside man has been awarded £1m in damages after a hospital blunder left him disabled. Anthony Louca was born premature in Middlesbrough in 1979 and was cared for in the town's maternity hospital. He suffered convulsions but was allowed to go home after two weeks. He now has short-term memory loss and cannot work.

On Friday he was awarded damages from the County Durham and Tees Valley Health Authority at the High Court in Middlesbrough after a 13-year fight.

The hearing heard how Mr Louca's mother Marilyn was left alone by the midwife soon after he was born at Carter Bequest Hospital. He was then transferred to Middlesbrough Maternity Hospital where he was put on one of its first ventilators.

The convulsions also left him with hearing difficulties.