Psychiatric Injury - Paper 2 Flashcards
What is meant by psychiatric injury?
Psychological damage suffered by C as a result of D’s negligence
What is Stage 1 of psychiatric injury?
C must be suffering from a recognised psychiatric injury, not ordinary human emotions (Reilly v Merseyside HA)
What was held in Sion v Hampstead HA?
The injury must be caused by a traumatic event or an ‘assault on the senses’
What is Stage 2 of psychiatric injury?
It must be established if the claimant is a primary victim or a secondary victim
Define what is meant by primary victim
Someone who is in the zone of danger and fears for their own physical safety
Define what is meant by secondary victim
A person who is not in the danger zone but witnesses the traumatic event but doesn’t fear for their own physical safety
Primary victims must be able to fall within the criteria set out in which case?
Page v Smith
What is Stage 1 under Page v Smith?
Primary victims do not have to show that the psychiatric injury was foreseeable, merely that some kind of personal injury was foreseeable
What is Stage 2 under Page v Smith?
The primary victim does not have to be person of normal fortitude
Which case established the control mechanisms which secondary victims must satisfy before a claim for psychiatric injury is allowed?
Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire
Which case updated the Alcock rules?
Paul, Polmear, & Purchase
What is the first Alcock control mechanism?
Must have close ties of love and affection with the primary victim
What is the second Alcock control mechanism?
Must witness the accident or its immediate aftermath with your own unaided senses
What was the decision in McLoughlin v O’Brien?
Immediate aftermath of an accident requires the primary victim to be in their immediate post-accident state and not ‘cleaned up’
What is the third control mechanism?
Must directly perceive the accident or its immediate aftermath
