UBC Hospital must pay a Richmond man about $5 million for losing track of a CT scan and failing to diagnose his debilitating condition in time, the B.C. Supreme Court has ruled.

When Shawn Kahlon went to his general practitioner 10 years ago reporting back pain, he was referred to a specialist at UBC Hospital where a CT scan was done.

But the CT scan was misfiled and never followed up on. The court ruled the scan should have triggered an investigation that would have led to a diagnosis of spinal TB meningitis. Treatment would then have been ordered, and Kahlon would likely have made a full recovery, the ruling said.

The CT scan was eventually recovered in 2000 but by then, his condition had gotten worse. Kahlon, now 42, is incapacitated, unemployable and in need of round-the-clock care, according to the ruling.

The B.C. Supreme Court exonerated Kahlon's family doctor and the specialists who saw him and found Kahlon 30 per cent liable for ignoring a request for a followup exam.

But the court found UBC Hospital 70 per cent liable for misfiling his original CT scan and failing to inform his doctors that no followup test was done. The $5 million estimate is based on a life expectancy for Kahlon of age 60.