Meningitis family 'told not to waste time'

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Mrs Thomas said the hospital trust deprived her son of his teenage years

The family of a man left severely brain damaged because of a delay in diagnosing meningitis have said they were originally warned by medics not to waste the hospital's time.

If the West Midlands family had not sought a second opinion, Mark Thomas probably would have died, they said.

Walsall Manor Hospital Trust admitted liability and apologised to the Thomas family for the care they gave him seven years ago.

Mark, of Walsall, had been given antibiotics for an ear infection he developed as a 12-year-old in December 2001.

'Deteriorating badly'

Two months later he was lethargic and refusing to eat. He had a stiff neck and was sweating profusely, his mother Elaine said.

"I knew something was really wrong," said Mrs Thomas.

"I had to carry him downstairs and laid him on the settee. He was crying because of the light and he was deteriorating badly," she added.

Mark was passionate about football and had wanted to follow a career in sport

His parents took him to Walsall Manor Hospital where Mrs Thomas says medics took his temperature and told them to take him home.

Mrs Thomas said: "Mark is my only son, I know my son. The nurse looked at me and said, 'you do realise this is accident and emergency, for emergencies'."

Later, when a nurse came to tend to him, a clot in his neck travelled to his brain and he had a slight stroke, Mrs Thomas said.

'Life back'

"He was lying on the bed, just as if he had been in a road accident," she said.

"If we had brought him home when they told us to, it would have been a very different outcome altogether. He wouldn't have been here."

Mark was stabilised and moved to Birmingham Children's Hospital where he was treated for a bacterial strain of pneumococcal meningitis.

It has since emerged that blood tests collected by Walsall Manor Hospital Trust four days earlier had not been checked, which would have alerted doctors to the early stages of meningitis.

Mark had to relearn basic life skills and has severe memory problems

Birmingham High Court heard that Mark would have made a full recovery and would not have suffered brain damage if he had been treated sooner.

The trust admitted liability and the family was awarded £3.2m by the court towards his future care.

Mark, now 20, said: "I can't tell you how angry I am, I don't know how to express it. I'd rather have my old life back."

He said he had lost touch with many of his childhood friends who had moved away and now had jobs. He had wanted to pursue a career in sport, which was his passion before he became ill.

He had to relearn basic life skills such as eating and walking and still can not be left alone in the house without posing a danger to himself or others.

Mrs Thomas said: "They took my child away, I've got my child but he isn't the one I gave birth to. They lost his teenage years.

"The money is going in a trust so it's there for him in the future, when me and his father are not here to look after him. I know he will be all right and he will be taken care of, but it doesn't mean anything. I have got my son but it's not the way I wanted it."