A Winnipeg child who ate ground beef tainted with deadly E. coli bacteria — commonly known as hamburger disease — will never see again or be able to look after himself. The nine-year-old child, who is a permanent ward of Winnipeg Child and Family Services, is suing Westfair Foods, Superstore and XL Foods for general damages, including care costs throughout his life and loss of future income.

"This is a child with catastrophic injuries," lawyer Norm Cuddy said on Monday.

Cuddy said the child was hospitalized in June 2004, but all of his injuries weren’t known until a few years later.

Another lawyer working on the lawsuit, Chris Wullum, said the child is a permanent ward of Winnipeg CFS because the mother wasn’t able to look after him with all of his special needs.

According to the statement of claim, filed in Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench last week, the child’s mother bought the ground beef at the Superstore on McPhillips Street.

The child suffered hemolytic uremic syndrome, received a kidney transplant, has spastic triplegia, severe and ongoing pain and has developmental delays, including not being able to take care of himself.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency initiated a recall of the ground beef products in August 2004 after two people in Manitoba were poisoned with E. coli bacteria in July 2004 and after tracing back those and other cases across the country to find the source of the meat.