Mark Thomas, now 20, developed meningitis in February 2002, but doctors at did not recognise the signs and failed to review a blood test that would have flagged up the virus.

He has been left in need of 24-hour care from his parents Elaine, aged 49, and David, aged 51, at their home in Blakenall, Walsall.

The settlement was approved at the High Court in Birmingham today after Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust admitted liability for the errors.

Tim Deeming, of Irwin Mitchell solicitors, representing the family, said: “The symptoms of meningitis are every parents’ worst nightmare. However, Elaine and David were simply made to feel like over anxious parents who were bothering A&E staff unnecessarily.”

Read the full story in Wednesday’s Express & Star.