A CHURCH minister has received a £40,000 out-of-court settlement after her husband was left in a “vegetative state” following a stay in a Birmingham care home.

Dementia sufferer Ruffo Bravette was left critically ill, severely dehydrated and with bed sores after spending two weeks at the Sunrise Senior Living complex in Church Road, Edgbaston.

Now the owners of the home have agreed the payout, without accepting liability, to settle a compensation claim brought by 59-year-old Mr Bravette’s wife, the Rev Victoria Bravette. Mrs Bravette, minister of Northfield Methodist Church, said: “Ruffo is like a vegetable now.

“He doesn’t walk or talk, has to be moved in and out of bed with a hoist and requires a special wheelchair. He’s unable to tell me what happened to him at Sunrise but he gets emotional when I say anything about it.”

Mrs Bravette paid almost £2,000 for her husband’s stay at the complex in 2009 so she could take a break from her role as his full-time carer.

“I had been to see the home and had been impressed,” she said.

“But when I went to pick him up I was horrified. He was in a very poor state, he’d lost a lot of weight and had a huge bed sore. He looked half-dead and could no longer speak to me.”