A man whose stomach was removed at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin after he was wrongly diagnosed with cancer has been awarded €450,000 damages at the High Court.
The issue of who is liable for those damages has yet to be resolved.
Alan O'Gorman (26) told the High Court last week of his shock after finding out that there had been a mistake in the diagnosis.
The court was told that analysis of his removed stomach after the operation showed no evidence of cancer, and it was later discovered that his tissue sample had been mixed up with that of a 70-year-old cancer patient.
Mr O'Gorman said he had taken overdoses of pills four times because of the stress caused by the operation.
Mr O'Gorman, of The Close, Fox Lodge Woods, Ratoath, Co Meath, alleged negligence in his treatment.
The action was taken against a representative of St Vincent's hospital and six other defendants. They are Ritu Guai Kapur, a pathology registrar at the hospital; three technicians at the hospital - Robert Geraghty, Bernie Curran and John Harford; Daniel K. Sheahan, a consultant histopathologist at the hospital, and Justin Geoghegan, a consultant surgeon at the hospital.
The defendants denied the claims.