An NHS hospital effectively paralysed a young boy for life and then tried to “gag” his family from speaking out.

Bosses at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust threatened legal action unless the child's father watered down his account of the event on the grounds it was “too emotional and too critical”.

This came after a botched operation to deal with intestinal problems left his two-month-old son, who cannot be named, with catastrophic brain injuries, causing quadriplegic cerebral palsy, blindness and double incontinence.

Despite admitting negligence, lawyers for the NHS then spent years wrangling over the amount of damages to be paid while trying to protect the trust’s reputation.

During this time the family were forced into poverty after the patient’s businessman father had to give up work to help look after his son.

Last night medical safety campaigners branded the trust’s behaviour “incredible”.

In comes two years after the Health Service Ombudsman warned hospitals were putting PR concerns ahead of complaints, and six years since a review ordered by David Cameron revealed a culture of “delay, deny and defend” in the NHS.

The boy, who was diagnosed with a bowel obstruction shortly after birth, was grievously injured in July 2014 when doctors accidentally tore a major vein while trying to insert a catheter