Psychiatric Injury Flashcards
what is psych harm?
form of psychiatric illness that the claimant has sufferend as a result of the perception of traumatic events/
must be either
a) medically recognised psych illness.
b) shock-induced physical condition (e.g heart attack)
what is a primary victim?
someone who suffers psychiatric harm as a result of reasonable fear for their own physical safety. Involved in the traumatic event and in the area of danger.
DOES NOT SUFFER PHYSICAL INJURY.
what is a secondary victim?
suffers psych harm due to fear of someone else’s safety, normally a close relative.
Not in fear of their own physical safety. Witness the traumatic event (or immediate aftermath) and suffer psych harm as a result but are not involved in the event/ in area of danger/
test for duty of care for a primary victim?
in order to determine whether a primary victim is owed a duty of care, the D must have reasonably foreseen that the claimant might suffer physical injury as a result of their negligence.
no need to foresee psychiatric damage as well.
what is the Alcock criteria for secondary victims?
a) psych injury must be reasonably foreseeable.
b) proximity of relationship between the claimant and the victim and
c) proximity in time and space to the accident- present at the accident or its immediate aftermath and the claim must have seen or heard the accident or its immediate aftermath with their own senses.
what does proximity of relationship mean for secondary victims?
close ties of love and affection.
no rebuttable presumption for grandparents or siblings.
what are medical crisis cases and secondary victims?
A doctor does not owe those who witness a medical crisis a duty of care (e.g family witnessing patient). accidents could be different.
For a secondary victim to recover damags, they must be present at the scene of the accident or its immediate aftermath.
Accident does not need to be horrifying.
A gap in time between the D’s breach and the accident will not bar recovery, what mattered was the claimant’s proximity in time and space to the accident.
what are assumption of responsibility cases?
A D will owe a claimant a duty of care not to cause pyschiatric harm where the D has ‘assumed responsibility’ to ensure that the claimant avoid reasonably foreseeable psychiatric harm.
can include occupational stress cases wehre psych harm is caused by the stress of work.
what is the teat for occupational stress cases?
- whether psych harm was reasonably forseeseable to the claimant.
- foreseeability depends on the relationship between the characteristics of the claimant and the requirements made by them by the employer including nature and extent of the work being undertaken, signs of stress and size and scope of the business and availability of resources.
