AN aspiring PE teacher is suing his family doctor after he claimed his career hopes were dashed when she failed to diagnose his illness.

University student Alfred Hutchinson claims his life was left in tatters after GP Julia Lee failed to treat his appendicitis despite his mother's pleas for help.

The 28-year-old claims that when he was finally admitted to hospital, surgeons told him he was just two hours from death,

Yesterday, Newcastle Crown Court heard how Mr Hutchinson's appendix was so badly ruptured it had gone septic and gangrenous,

Mr Hutchinson is claiming medical negligence after his trauma left him psychologically damaged, and his prolonged recovery cut short his promising future.

His barrister, Philip Kramer, told the court how Mr Hutchinson, from Plains Farm, Sunderland, was struck down with severe stomach pains on June 26, 1996.

His condition worsened and he went to Sunderland Royal Hospital's casualty department - but was discharged after doctors said he was suffering from a stomach bug.

His mother Deborah called in an emergency doctor the following morning, who also diagnosed a stomach bug and prescribed a course of antibiotics.

The court heard that when Mr Hutchinson's condition worsened, his mother went to see Dr Lee at the city's Millfield medical centre and asked her to visit her son - but she refused to help him.

On July 1, five days after her son first became ill, Mrs Hutchinson asked another GP at the Millfield Medical Centre to see her son, and he was rushed to the Royal Hospital for a five-hour emergency operation to remove his badly ruptured appendix,

The court heard that Mr Hutchinson, who was 24 when he became ill, was a keen sportsman and had been studying a sports degree at Sunderland University.

Mrs Hutchinson said: "My son was going to be a teacher, He was a fit, strong, outgoing young man, but all that changed when they failed to diagnose his illness."

Mr Hutchinson claims that Dr Lee was in breach of duty by failing to diagnose his appendicitis and is claiming damage for medical negligence.

Dr Lee denies negligence and claims she has no recollection of Mrs Hutchinson's pleas for help for her son.

The GP said Mrs Hutchinson had come to see her about her own medical condition.

The case continues