psychiatric injury Flashcards
reilly v merseyside health authority
in order be owed a doc for psychiatric injury, a person must suffer from a recognised psychiatric injury resulting from the event and recognised as having long term effects not simply ordinary human emotions
sion v hampstead health authority
to be owed a doc, the psychiatric injury must be caused by a traumatic event or an ‘assault on the senses’
primary victim
someone who reasonably fears for their own physical safety or is within the zone of danger
page v smith
1-primary victims don’t need to show that psychiatric injury was foreseeable only that personal injury was
2-primary victims do not need to be of normal fortitude (egg shell skull rule)
secondary victim
an unwilling witness to the traumatic incident but is not personally in danger of physical harm, and must satisfy alcock ‘control mechanisms’
‘control mechanism’ 1
you must have close ties of love and affection with the primary victim
‘control mechanism’ 2
you must witness the accident or its immediate aftermath with your own unaided senses
mcloughlin v o’brian
‘immediate aftermath’ requires the primary victim to be their immediate post-accident state, not ‘cleaned-up’
‘control mechanism’ 3
the psychiatric injury must be induced by shock (‘the sudden appreciation by sight or sound of a horrifying event which violently agitates the mind’-Lord Ackner)
sion
psychiatric injury caused over a period of time is not recoverable
chadwick v british transport
for rescuers (primary victims) psychiatric injury is foreseeable and it is in the public interest to allow these claims-apply two points from page v smith
white
rescuers must objectively put themselves in danger
mcfarlane
bystanders (secondary victims) can only claim if they satisfy the alcock ‘control mechanisms’
