A company director was awarded £1.32m yesterday in one of the highest damage claims made against a private hospital after suffering brain damage from a bungled operation on a runny nose.

Peter Rogers's family told the high court that they were misled by the Bupa hospital in Leicester, which initially suggested that the surgeon's mistake was the result of a stroke during the operation.

Mr Rogers, 58, formerly the director of a printing firm, now suffers vision and memory loss and can no longer work. Judge Michael Murphy, QC, told a hearing in Sheffield: "The financial settlement is as much as the law can give. Everyone understands people make mistakes. This is one that had dreadful consequences and I hope the order made today will to some extent alleviate those consequences."

Mr Rogers was due to have nasal polyps removed in May 2002, but the surgeon, George Murty, cut into his brain. Susan Rogers said she was told her husband had been rushed into intensive care after a stroke. The truth emerged later when a neurosurgeon friend looked at the brain scans. Mrs Rogers, of Leicester, said after the hearing: " If Mr Murty had said from the beginning 'I'm sorry, I have made a mistake', we would have felt differently."

The award was agreed after the hospital and surgeon finally agreed liability. A spokesman for Bupa said: "An independent review concluded that Mr Murty did not try to mislead Mr Rogers."