Hospital Agrees To Pay Life Long Care Costs Of Severely Disabled Man

A hospital has agreed to fund lifetime care for a man who was brain damaged after being treated for croup as a baby, at a cost of around £10 million.

19-year-old Zach Petrou was left with the mental capacity of a baby following treatment at Stepping Hill Hospital.

His parents alleged he was deprived of oxygen during treatment in 1994.

While the hospital has not accepted liability it has agreed to settle the family's medical negligence claim at Manchester High Court.

Zach’s parents took him to the hospital suffering from croup, a treatable and common viral infection, but his condition deteriorated and he was placed on an emergency ventilator.

However when he was taken off the ventilator he was found to be profoundly brain damaged.

His father, Andros, 50, of Tameside, said: "We have been left devastated by what happened to Zach.

"We lost our son in 1994 at seven months of age, his future was taken away from him at that point.

"Zach went into the hospital a healthy baby boy but was given back to us severely brain damaged.

"The care that Zach needs is relentless. If you can imagine the needs of a baby but in an adult's body, that is how he will be for the rest of his life."

Zach has a normal life expectancy and, as he is doubly incontintent, fully mobile and can be unpredictable and violent, he needs at least two carers round the clock.

This means the settlement figure will potentially be one of the largest ever in the UK.

A team of experts will now look at exactly how much Zach's care for the rest of his life will cost, before a figure is agreed.

(H)