I understand that Leslie Ash only asked for half a million, for the damage that she knew about for her body. Why give more.? If this is the way NHS - a national treasure is going to payout people for human errors, how long it is going to last I wonder?.I think it is ridiculous the way the lawyers come to decisions like this. Why don’t they look ahead? Their brains should be examined. Soon the hospitals will be go bust, and millions of others will have to suffer . Is it what we want? Why don’t they give her half a million she asked for, and use the rest to eradicate this dreadful MRSA from all the hospitals?
I hope something would be done about this.
Thank you

Padma, New Malden,

Is 5M too much ? Her lawyer is obviously good at his job.
The MSSA complication she suffered sounds more like a procedural error than an institutional one like MRSA, but nevertheless if her high-profile case helps to highlight the problem of 3rd world cleanliness in UK hospitals then so much the better.
Would I want 5M in exchange for my health ? No thanks.

Mike, London,

This is absoltely disgraceful, she should be ashamed!

Christine, Malmo,

"At the moment, I'm as healthy as I have ever been so I don't want to jeopardise that in any way - but I can't resist ice-cream." Leslie Ash, July 2005.

As healthy as she's ever been in 2005 but receives £5 million compensation in 2008 - nice move Leslie ; )

Paul, Sheffield, England

This is definitely one of those stories that has two sides to it! On the one hand, it is a personal tragedy for Leslie Ash and I don't think that anyone is saying that she wouldn't pay the £5M back if she could have her health and strength back to what it was before. On the other hand, when you think of what victims of other state-sponsored personal tragedies have received, it does seem excessive.

Gary, Sawbo,

surely she runined her prospects of being a respectable actress by having such horrible plastic surgary. Surely she should sue that hospital!

lawrence ramsay, Peterborough,

The point of compensation is that it compensates you for what you have lost as result of someone else's negligence. Put simply, Leslie Ash was a popular actress capable of earning a lot of money in the future. As a result of the hospital's negligence she has effectively lost that money, hence the reason the award is so large. To suggest that somebody should be awarded less because they are "already wealthy" is missing the point.

Sarah, Oxford,

This is fine by me. She had/has a wine bar too - she can't run that any more. Congratulations to her for such a nice settlement. Why can't everyone be pleased for someone rather than try and knock them and bring them down. I'm embarrassed from all these comments so far.

Karl, oxford,

Compensation should be limited to a predetermined scale. Otherwise many others will suffer as a result of huge payouts that are denuding the NHS of funds. MRSA is a serious and solvable problem and the NHS management have gravely erred in allowing it to spread but this sort of compensation is not justifiable.

Colin , Shrewsbury,

Even though her life was turned upside-down by her illness Leslie is still a beautiful and talented actress. She has much to contribute to her profession. She has a life beyond the wheelchair.

Dr. Jimmy, Nottingham, England

Lesley should be ashamed of herself accepting that kind of money. She ended her own career and I hope the hospital will not have to cut back now.

Jane, essex, uk

I don’t begrudge Leslie Ashe’s victory but I do feel the £5m payout seems a little excessive. No doubt Leslie & Lee will be rubbing their hands now at the thought of all that money – perhaps they will be rubbing them in one of the ‘Bio-Cidal’ products marketed by Leslie’s company. Could these products now be subject to a vigorous marketing campaign thereby increasing her earning potential? We’ll have to wait and see.

Paul, Sheffield,

I thought that the 5 million awarded was an horrific amount. I can sympathise with what has happened to her but at the same time she had already putherself out of a lot of work due to her self inflicted trout pout! Where they got this sum of money from I do not know ! She could have retrained and done something else.. others have to.

vivienne, Liverpool,

How interesting that the news of Ms Ash's 5 million pounds windfall breaks on the same day that the MOD announces compensation of 3 million pounds to be shared amongst those thousands servicemen duped into testing lethal drugs.

This says a lot about our value system.

Clive Hoare, Carmarthen, Wales

'Celebrities' seem to be the new elite, favoured massively by the system. I wonder what will be offered to the ordinary working families who have had loved-ones die from MRSA? A pittance, that's what. The Government should intervene and reduce her award to a sensible figure.

Michael, Kent,

Surely the 'Trout Pout' that she gave herself with plastic surgery is more of a hindrance to her future earnings than walking with a stick!

H Jones, London,

I agree with Percival, who says that it would be different if it were a private system people paid for, as it is on the NHS all are supposed to be equal when receivinbg treatment and same should then extend to compensation.

Of course I dont begrudge LJ her payout, but I have a friend who is a housewife and mother who has had similar experience but received nothing and is left paralysed and with colostomy bags for life, with 3 kids to look after.

I would be terrified if I had to go into hospital for anything myself. I see more cleaning going on in McDonalds than I do in my local hospital.

jon, cambs, uk

This award is way over the top she is already a wealthy person therefore would not exactly be destitute with a smaller award how long do you think it will be now the compensation case is over that she will make a full unexpected recover and be back working.

Alistair Seymour, Peterborough, England

'Time to get rid of the NHS'

Good idea, let's be like the USA, where there is no health care unless you have money or insurance. Perhaps we could get infant mortality rates here up to the level of the USA ?

Des Browning, Manchester,

This payment may or may not be fair but it exposes the huge differences in payments to others suffering serious infections whilst in hospitals. I received only £20,000 for being infected with possible fatal hepatitis C through a blood transfusion in 1986 and caught many other infections in hospitals in the UK which has left me disabled. I lost my job, my health and have struggled to survive over the last 20 years.
Please print m,y name and address as am tired of writing to the NHS and hospitals who have injured me and now refuse to even answer me.

Edward Priestley, 87330 Gajoubert, France

This isn't MRSA and it isn't a superbug. 'MSSA' is the non-resistant form of MRSA that existed before anitbiotic use resulted in 'superbug' strains like MRSA. Staph Aureus, as it is properly called, is a normal bacteria that grows on the skin of every single person in the country. Getting a wound infection is a very unfortunate complication of any procedure that breaks the skin. I can only assume that there must have been some error in the sterile technique used to administer her epidural, as the risk of infection is something that should be mentioned on every consent form that should be signed by someone receiving an epidural. This case has nothing to do with MRSA sufferers and journalists writing that it does don't know what they're talking about and should find another field of 'expertise.' You'd expect a bit more from the Times. Brings back all the stories about MMR that were erroneously spread to cause public paranoia. MRSA is a serious thing, but a separate thing.

Matt, London, UK

Dear Dave,

With respect to you, I don't think that you would 'happily' endure such things. Remember that she had probably gone through the psychological trauma of not knowing whether she was going to live or die because of the MRSA, then she doesn't know if she is ever going to walk properly again. She has had personal medical details dragged through the newspapers, which isn't very nice. On top of this she must have already been very down because of the mistake made with the injections into her lip (whether it was for vanity was beside the point)

In relation to where she lives and her ruined life, it seems very little money. It's possible that it will be swallowed up within no time if she needs care as she gets older.

Please be thankful for your good health, if you have it, and thank God that you have been spared the horrors of MRSA.

Carol, Midlands, UK

to dave from stevenage- i suggest that you spend some time with domeone with a serious disability and then see whether its worth having a decreased quality of life just for the sake of having money.

Rita, croydon, surrrey,

Can any sum of money EVER compensate for this abysmal human suffering?. Of course not, only a thoughtless imbecile would suggest otherwise. Now, £5,000,000... a tidy sum, and any other payouts pending or already made.. Wouldn"t it have been better if the NHS trusts had used this money on cleaners and disinfectants, as preventive medicine?.

Albert Grudge, Taunton, UK

I wouldn't wish this illness on anybody however I can't help feeling that the award took into account the 'celebrity' factor, I seriously doubt that the average person would not have received a fraction of this amount, if anything at all. I read somewhere she is happy, I bet she is!!

jeff, London,

Perhaps Leslie Ash should consider many many other victims of these hospital aquired bugs whilst she is celebrating her £5 million payout - no wonder the NHS struggles to meet the demands thrown at it! Fortunate for her she can probably afford to employ top notch legal people to represent her, not like Joe Bloggs!

Jan, Nottingham, UK

3 points:
1) Does anyone else see how this could develop into a system where high earning individuals have more care taken of them as the potential penalties are that much higher?

2) How does taking 5 million out of a system help it to improve? How many cutbacks are going to be made to weather this cost? "Wanted a decent cleaning service? Sorry, we gave that budget to Leslie Ash and now we have to employ the cheapest bidder".

3) In what world did the talentless Leslie Ash stand to earn 5 million?

Alan, Northampton,

i'ts disgusting-- her future earnings as an actress are nil not because of her "accident" but because of her "trout-lips" appearance.
Anyway why can't she re-train as other people have to when they are unable to carry on with their previous occupation. how can future earnings be estimated based on an occupation she no longer does and wasn't doing when the incident ocurred?

granny jo, brecon,

It's all down to the solicitor that she instructed. Russell Cooke solicitors are well know for extorting money from clients particularly in the divorce courts. I suggest the hospitals get better lawyers in future in order to fight this malpractice.

Jim Tavare, london,

I am sure I read an article (perhaps on this site?) yesterday, that Ms Ash had agreed to a payout of £500,000. Or had the decimal point been put in the wrong place.?

The amount is vulgar and an insult to your "Average Joe taxpayer."

Louise, Mirfield, West Yorkshire, England

I guess this sum is tax free and up front?

So if she can get 6% interest on her £5M, this is worth £300,000 a year, without even touching the lump sum, for the rest of her life.

I would bet her real future earnings would have come nowhere near that amount!

I hope she never works again, I know I will not want to see her in anything.

Andy, Reading, UK

This is just another of example of the selfish claim cuture this country has become, and everyone else has to suffer.
I agree she was due compensation, but not this much. Think of the good that could of been done with this money, instead some of it will be used to improve Her Healthcare, but I fear the fast amount will be wasted on expensive Holidays,Houses and Fast cars. Is this what the NHS is supposed to be used for?

Matt, Portsmouth,

While the payout is certainly high, it's inaccurate to suggest this is £5m less that the NHS will have to spend - the money will come from insurers. Admittedly, the NHS has to pay for the insurance, but £5m in the context of the £bns paid out annually it's not going to impact the premium.

Ed, London,

You miserable bunch.

The poor girl deserves every penny and more.

Money can NEVER make up for personal trauma.

The NHS needs to clean up and act like any other business taking responsibility for it's actions.

Andrew Jones, Chester, England

i have to say that the reactions and views of most of the commentors are much more disgusting than the reward that has been given, especiallly those who feel it wrong that a UK taxpayer should not receive the free healthcare that she has helped pay for, probably with a lot more tax than the people who have decried it.

Its a fair reward, both punatively for the Hospital that mistreated and also in reflecting the extra earning posbilities of say another 20 or so years acting. Even smaller roles for established "talent" pay reasonably well.

and it is quite easy to break ribs. If you try hard enough! i've managed it walking into a table, and playing rugby. as well as having refractured after being pushed out of bed by my girlfriend.

Stuart, Southampton, UK

You could say her lips saved the day for her.

Ken, Newport, I O W

I hope she doesn,t have energetic sex to celebrate her £5 million !!!!!


beryl, wales

Mrs Beryl Coen, ammanford, u.k

She should spend the money on new lips :D

David, Accrington, UK

What a nasty, vindictive, spiteful comment from Liz of London. You cannot put a price on a person's value or their future potential. If Leslie Ash was earning big money and has lost the opportunity to do that and to follow her chosen career then she is entitled to every penny.
What price do you put on your ability to walk and to live a normal life then Liz? You have a big attitude problem.

Ed , London,

5 million? But surely her pathetic lip surgergy had already ended the "fantastic career" that she was enjoying?

Sean, London,

I think that's a fair amount I think until this kind of thing happens to yourself , you wouldnt be able to put a price on how much your life is worth. Its not her fault that actors and actresses get paid too much and if she wasnt struck down with this illness she would probably earn a lot more than that throughout her life.

stacey, abingdon,

I've arrived at this a little late and so I'd like to agree with all those correspondents who share my view and disagree with the rest.

Brian Filings, Ible, Derbyshire

Must have been a high bed

Jonathan, Chaumont, France

A few more payouts like this and maybe the NHS will finally get its mops and detergent out......The superbug epidemic under Labour is the biggest scandal of the modern era.

Sedgwick Morrison, london,

Unbelieveable pay out.The idiot who aggreed this amount dos'ent live in the real world. Yes she suffered, just like thousands of other unfortunates, but £5million. Totally obscene. Just shows, money to money. The compansation mentallity gone MAD.

Brian, Derbyshire,

My mother, at 82, contracted MRSA at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow. She lost her right leg as a result. As yet the hospital has not even had the grace to respond to any communications I have made to them. This ludicrous payout will no doubt stiffen their resolve to ignore any further contact from myself and my mother. Just goes to show, if you're famous - and I use the word loosely - you always win, even if it's so richly undeserved. (Paris Hilton etc.!!)

Geoff Beames, Harlow, UK

This is a reducolous settlement unless it is applied to all those who contract hospital acquired infections - dose this now mean that anyone acquiring an HAI is now entitled to this sort of compensation - let us not forget however that Ms Ash had the funds to take this case forward - the majority of patients do not - all this does is prove once again that there is one rule for the rich and one for the poor

Gordon Bingley, Congleton, Cheshire

The NHS has not paid out £5 mill, their insurance company has, so stop the whinging. No tax payers money has been spent.

ewan, sherborne, dorset

If she was making so much, why didn't she have private healthcare?

Sam, Dundee,

I am sick of hearing about Ms. Ash. For a start she didn't contract MRSA but MRSS.
Secondly her hospital admission was required due to the 'activities' of herself and her husband. These were in my opinion self inflicted, considering she states that she consented in these activities. Therefore she should actually be paying the NHS for her treatment instead of making yet another spectacle of herself.

marie oakes, bolton, lancashire.

Oooh I really hope I see her in the street ... will have to think of something to shout at her.

Not impressed. Britain is going to the dogs.

I'm off to check out jobs in Dubai ...

Sarah, London,

Well if you ask me it's truly deserved - I can't think of any destitute and truly homeless people, pensioners waiting for hip operations, women seeking refuge from violent partners, childrens charities, local health authorities with various appeals for equipment like scanners, the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research, Alzheimers Association etc etc etc who would benefit from that money, can you?

Jason , Aberdeen, UK

And, actually, who is paying for this? Correct, you and me, not the Chelsea & Westminster. £5m based on future earnings is surely a little optimistic bearing in mind that all older actresses complain that nothing is ever written for them. And then there are the appallingly badly treated soldiers who don't receive enough to pay for their care

Robert M, London,

Since when has MSSA been a variant of MRSA. MSSA is commonly just known as Staphylococcus aureus, and has been causing human infections for many years. When we started using antibiotics S.aureus started to develop resistance to them, and we have now ended up with MRSA, which is a resistant strain of S.aureus. Hence MRSA is a variant of MSSA. Isolates of MSSA are extremely common, and cause a whole range of infections, many of them superficial, but they can be life threatening. The source of these infections is often the own patient's skin, as S.aureus transiently colonises the skin, so how they proved negligence I am not sure. I suspect it was paid to keep a high profile complainant quiet, a shocking waste of public money.

Paul Davies, Yeovil, Somerset

5m would have paid for 260 newly qualified nurses for a year. No wonder the NHS is in such a mess and the staff so chronically underpaid and undervalued when this amount of money is wasted. Have we forgotten that all invasive proceedures carry risks - which patients are informed about. Not forgetting most people CARRY MRSA on their skin, how can Ms Ash prove she contracted it in hospital and didnt carry the organism in herself...?

Keely & Kelly, Leeds.

Kelly Turner, Leeds,

my dad caught mssa last year, in his hip replacement and didnt sue...she consented to the procedure, its only been paid out cause she moaned about it for ages, it was plainly a complication...
this is clearly just to shut her up...its a ridiculous sum to pay, how much was she earning anyway? a part in the bill? all of 250 grand a year max, and thats generous
this is purely a ruse to go on about the mrsa "scandal" all over the country, and this story is clearly mis-represented as she definitely had mssa, not mrsa, which is treatable with antibiotics
its is true that mrsa is a problem but how reasonable is it to ask that our hospitals undergo a massive deep clean that would accomplish very little apart from a clean hopsital for a few weeks, the nhs is clearly underfunded and some other way is needed to solve this problem than paying 5 million to people that dont deserve that obscene amount! how much would cleaning would that much money pay for!!! its an outrage

Chris, Bristol, UK

A health service that can't even fulfill the basic requirement of cleanliness fully deserves to be taken to the cleaners. All victims of hospital acquired infection deserve substantial compensation. Any government that permits this state of affairs may well be exhibiting criminal levels of negligence and incompetence. The politicians responsible must be eliminated from their posts like the antibiotic resistant single celled creatures they are. Enough is enough form these New Labour germs, dedicated to making our lives worse and out nation a laughing stock.

Brian Jones, London, UK

This is an obscene payout of taxpayer's money and is ample testimony to what a c-list celebrity prepared to undertake expensive litigation can achieve against a cowardly hospital. What chance the rest of us?

Peter, London, UK

Shameful ....................... shame shame shame on you Ms. Ash.
Get out your cheque book and write a cheque to Great Ormond Street for 75% of that payout.

Ian MacPherson, Portsmouth, UK

There should be a two-tier system for the NHS. Those who potentially litigate should they fall ill and those who sign a disclaimer against seeking financial compensation from anyone in the medical profession for anything short of deliberate malpractice.

Only the latter should receive any actual treatment, naturally.

Andrew Waldron, Bournemouth, UK

Ridiculous sum - am in agreement that payouts should only be considered when dealing with private healthcare.

Actors and actresses are generally overpaid anyway and a £5M payout by the NHS will just need to be compensated by the rest of us - i.e. normal, hard working people who pay our taxes and cannot afford the luxurious life that television or film celebrity status/wealth provides.

£5M buys a lot of antibacterial cleaning products which woud perhaps be a better use of NHS funds and would help fight the spread of MRSA.

Thanks Leslie - we look forward to paying this back for you. Damages awarded for personal injury are of course tax free.

Liz, London,

what price can mend a wasted life?5million?not for my health thanks

ross Campbell , gillingham Dorset ,

I understand she only asked for half a million. Why not give the extra unexpected £4.5 million to the NHS through a Trust aimed exclusively at eradicating MRSA from all hospitals

Ian Stewar, Dundee,

Indeed, what a bloody joke!
God bless our injured servicemen and many more..who are suffering far worse problems.

Dee Black, Crawley, UK

As this lady has suffered terribly she has been awarded compensation, I would like to point out a quote from the article;
“Whereas the award may sound high, it will reflect the injuries of the actress and in particular her past and future needs and losses, including her earnings” I presume she is now disabled, therefore eligible to claim benefits such as a blue badge , incapacity benefit. The question I would like to pose, if there was a claim for these benefits would the compensation award be taken into consideration. If not the system is paying twice.

Saj, Norfolk, uk

again a lottery. soldiers get vitrually nothing she gets £5m.

Phil Barnes, preston, england

" A wake - up call "
The only wake up about it is the danger that the NHS could consider stopping some treatments without a legal get out clause.

If she earned so much, she should have gone private.

Frank H, London, UK

If the NHS are forced to make payouts of this sum on a regular basis, when on earth are they going to find the investment to stop this happening in the future. I do realise the personal suffering brought about by failings in the system, but the NHS is still a human organisation that is going to make mistakes. If these people really believe in a better health service for everyone, they would see how selfish it is to deprive the NHS of much needed funds in order that they can live in a little more luxury.

Alice, North Yorkshire,

That was some sex romp? How high was the bed? I heard Chapman's hand was quite bruised aswell from the fall. Still nice to see he has stuck with her, what a nice chap.

The NHS should quite literally clean their act up.

When patients are sent home because they are at more risk staying over night from killer bugs you have a major problem.

5 milion seems reasonable for serious harm done, and she was riding high in her acting career, or had the trout pout already finished it off?

Chris, Dubai,

Dave - you are talking rubbish, as are all of the correspondents who have called the award too high. The NHS needs to get its house in order to avoid clinical negligence claims.

Insurers do not readily pay a penny to claimants and claimants and their lawyers fight long and hard for what they get. No one can say that the settlement was too high. If it had been too high the insurer would not have paid it and would have forced the claim into court.

I am certain that Ms Ash would happily give up the whole sum to turn the clock back to before the negligent treatment that she suffered.

David , Leicester,

i find giving five million pounds is an absolutely over - in - flated amount. I am sure she went through a lot of suffering however previous people who have died from her illness have families who are devastated and received no-where near that amount. As she is already wealthy she can afford the best lawyers who obtained this high fee (of which they will take a good oprtion no doubt! ) for her. Her career was on the wain so basing it entirely on past earnings is unfair.
Please note I believe Leslie Ash deserved some form of payment for pain and suffering HOWEVER £ 5 million. She should donate a proportion of this figure back to charities who who can help speed up waiting lists for seriously ill patients to get treated. If she doesnt announce that she does this quickly I am afraid a lot of people are going to see accepting this HUGE amount as greed. There are so many people who are seriously ill who would benefit a lot more from this money. It is a sad state of affairs if not.....

Helen Hanna, South Belfast, Northern Ireland

That's £5m that is now no longer available to improve conditions or give lifesaving treatment. Who decides these ridiculous amount and how are they held to account giving huge amounts of taxpayers money? Why, because she is an actress (and not a particularly successful one) does she get this level of pay out? She should give most of this money back.
They need to find another way of punishing poor performance in the public sector other than giving our money away to private individuals.
The UK continues on it's path to madness

Matthew, London, 52nd State

OK Let's get real here. A contract is a legal doccument that you sign when you take a job.
Unfortunately public sector workers who have been in the profession for a very long time would also want fair and just reparation for any on the job hazards they may encounter. Some of us have stuck it out in the caring professions for an astoundingly long time because the rewards were peculiar to us and why we did the job in the first place.
However, there are other professions (try the so called "arts") where job security has never been part of a contract of any sort. Not enough of us have benefitted from "residuals": these were only ever given to the "stars". So, unfortunately calculating "loss of earnings" can be a tricky one and rewards for non- contractual workers has been a joke. (Nurses, soldiers, teachers, artists of whatever stripe who have had to be self employed all figure in this equation.
We speak as theatricals, artists, teachers and house husband.

Carlyle and Len Braden, Croydon, UK

British service men recieve a fraction of that for injuries, I think 1/10th of that would have been more appropriate.

neil P, bath, somerset

Leslie Ash has been through much suffering without doubt. The hospital admits it failed her. Some of it sustained and also some would say caused by a volatile relationship.
Its no wonder she is said to be delighted with the 5m award .
A young British man who fought and sustained catastrophic injuries in the Afgan war has to fight to receive 300 thousand. Something is not quite right,is it?

Tony, leeds, yorkshire

This is absolutly disgusting! An actress getting free healthcare in the first place is disgusting but then to complain about the service because she was wealthy enough to raise a legal battle. She should be ashamed of herself. The very reason this virus exists is because of a lack of cash, how selfish can she be? I hope she understands that the 5m she received will be the cause of many hundreds more people becoming infected. She should at least donate it back to the trust and have made her point.

What a selfish woman. What an actress.

Wayne Simpson, Montpellier, France

While the headline and caption for the photograph indicate that Leslie Ash had MRSA, the text of the article and accompanying bullet points state that she has methicillin sensitive staph aureas. I wonder if you could clarify which is correct.

wonko, London, London

Presumably if my family had the resources to mount a legal case for compensation (as Lesley has obviously been able to do) we, too, would have had a payout. My late mother caught MRSA in 1999 (in Mayday Hospital, Croydon) which was a factor in her death, my father had two toes amputated after contracting MRSA in Maidstone Hospital in 2005 and, incidentally, two elderly neighbours of ours (a husband and wife) died within four weeks of each other after contracting MRSA in Maidstone Hospital in 2006. This payout (no matter what Lesley's loss of future earnings would have been) is very, very unfair.

J Saunders, Sevenoaks, Kent, UK

how come mr or mrs unknown never get payouts like this then??and very rarely do people suffer a broken ribs and punctured lungs from just falling off the bed.hmmmmm...

mole, luton, england

Absolutely immoral - this is £5 million less available for those in need of NHS treatment. What were the Chelsea and Westminster insurers thinking of? The case should have gone to court where the greed Ms Ash would almost certainly have received a much more appropriate settlement,

Jane, Bedford,

She only asked for £1 million yet was given £5 million. And she had become a figure of ridicule with the Trout Pout ,so basing her future earnings on her past ones was pretty silly. Still, I wonder who will end up paying for this largesse.

Peter Jackson, London,

I think it is appalling that so many of these views are totally tainted by financial jealosy.
The girl went into this hospital a relatively healthy young girl and had her life ruined by their negligence.
There are countries in this world where MRSA et al do not exist, so it is a by-product of poor standards and absolutely preventable.
Moaning about the money and despicable comments on her acting ability......................meeeeeeeeeeoooooowwwwwwww.
We should wish her well.

Ken Wyatt, Todmorden, UK

The payout is ridiculous, though - if true - the things she has had to endure are horrendous. The person who commented that they would go through what she had gone through for £5m has obviously never been seriously ill.

Shay Kin, Cumbria, UK

Time to get rid of the NHS.
These payouts are only justified when people pay for their health care.

Percival Mulesworth, Liverpool, UK

This award is fair compensation for Leslie. The article does not give her career the credit it deserves. Her first big break was 'Quadrophenia' not MBB. Leslie is being judged by events in her personal life, but this is not why she has received compensation. When we are admitted to hospital we are vunerable and expect to be cared for. This hospital has admitted negligence and Leslie's career is over. She will probably need care for the rest of her life, which may be shortened by this event. Let's hope this is the final wake-up call for the NHS to improve patient care. How many more do they need!

joy, Stevenage, UK

What future earnings? Leslie Ash had all but burned out - apart from very little talent - who on earth can take an actress seriously when she seems to be permanently imitating a goldfish with cold sores? I bet she was pleased with the pay out - but who is really going to foot the bill for this ridiculous award - I don't suppose she really cares about that - still as long as she's alright!!!!!!

Lynn, Norwich, UK

Lynn Young, Norwich, UK

MRSA didn't end her career. Her own vain butchering of her face and the resulting trout pout ended her career. She should have no more compensation than a lowly member of the public.

Gemma , Leighton Buzzard, UK

This is disgusting, £5m less in the kitty for the NHS!!!!
Loads of people get this bug and get nothing. She should be ashamed.

Gary , scarborough,

Lets here it for the thousands that the NHS has killed by MRSA and CC, what amount and where is there payout to their relatives who lost them early due to the NHS Manament incompetance.

Don't hold your breath, he won't here Cameron or Brown comment.

Bill, Sheffield,

what a bloody joke

jon, canterbury, kent

No offence to anyone that suffers from paralysis permanently, or who has had to deal with MRSA, but frankly i would happily go through 4 years of what Leshley Ash suffered for a £5 million payout.

Dave, Orpington, Kent

I worked for the NHS for 15 years I am now living overseas, if I was currently employed by the NHS, I would resign as I consider the payout to Leslie Ash ridiculous

Marie, Washington DC,