Man wins pounds 7,500 to try Viagra

A MAN whose sex life and sporting ambitions were destroyed by surgery for a slipped disc won nearly pounds 600,000 damages in the High Court in London - including pounds 7,500 to try out the anti-impotence drug Viagra.

It is believed to be the first time that provision has been made in court damages for such treatment.

Ian West, 27, from Orpington, Kent, who has been left with severe sexual, bladder, bowel and leg dysfunction, had been an "outstanding athlete", said Mr Justice Blofeld. But his hopes of spending his life as a professional golfer or cricketer had been replaced by the hard fact that he could not get work.

Mr West had sued Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust over negligent treatment he received in January 1994. The trust had admitted liability, but contested the amount of damages.

The agreed sum for Viagrawas based on the expert view that it might help his condition, although he had not yet tried it.