Taxpayers will pay $300,000 to a man who lost his penis and a testicle after doctors misdiagnosed a case of flesh-eating bacteria while he was being held in a Washington state prison, local news organizations report.

The Seattle Times says Charlie Manning, 61, reached a settlement with the state four years after he fell ill while serving a 13-month sentence for stealing a neighbor's gun and threatening him.

"After he developed an infected hemorrhoid and his symptoms worsened, including a fever, swollen genitals, bleeding from the rectum and a rash on his torso, prison medical staff diagnosed him as having an allergic reaction to cold medicine," the Times reports. "By the time a doctor at Grays Harbor Community Hospital in Aberdeen found Manning had necrotizing fasciitis, or flesh-eating bacteria, and he was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, the bacteria had spread to his pelvic area."

He lost "several pounds of flesh," according to the paper.

The state denied any wrongdoing.

"While the end result was unfortunate and Mr. Manning's original diagnosis turned out to be inaccurate, this was the result of a misdiagnosis, not the result of poor medical care," the Corrections Department says in a statement to the Post-Intelligencer. "Not all medical judgments -- whether performed in a prison or at a doctor's office -- are infallible."