A MAN has been awarded £1.5m after he was left brain damaged following a hospital blunder.

Jason Willis, 29, sued Sunderland Health Authority for medical negligence after he was wrongly sent home from hospital when he was suffering from a colon condition.

Mr Willis had been referred to Sunderland District General Hospital when he fell ill after a holiday abroad in August 1992.

He was admitted to the hospital but later discharged into his mother's care. But his condition worsened and he eventually needed two operations.

Mr Willis, a former building merchant's assistant, suffered a heart attack and was also found to have meningitis, general septicemia and had to have a tracheotomy.

He was left with brain damage, is blind in his right eye and can only walk 400 yards at a time, with the aid of sticks.

Yesterday, Mr Willis was awarded the £1.5m settlement from the Sunderland Health Authority at the High Court, in Newcastle, after the health authority admitted medical negligence.

He is cared for by his 52-year-old mother at their home but can now employ another carer with the pay-out.

Neither Mr Willis nor his mother wished to comment after the hearing.