A COURT has ordered a hospital in northern Italy to pay 180,000 euro ($262,716) to a man after surgeons removed a healthy testicle in error.

The plaintiff, who was 27 at the time of the operation in 2004, had a tumour in the left testicle but the healthy one was removed, the Arena di Verona newspaper reported.

The surgeons quickly realised their mistake and removed the left testicle as well, the report said.

