Psyciatric Injury Flashcards
What is the first part of psychiatric injury?
The C may have a claim for psychiatric injury. This is where the C is suffering from a psychiatric injury (not physical or property damage), caused by the D. There are 2 stages which must be proven.
What is stage one?
The C must be suffering from a recognised psychiatric injury, not ordinary human emotion - Reilly V Merseyside Health Authority. (In this case, the C was suffering from fear and distress, held - ordinary human emotions so no claim).
APPLY
Additional - stage one?
The C must show that this illness was caused by the traumatic event or an ‘assault on the senses’ - Sion V Hampstead Health Authority.
APPLY
What is Stage 2?
Were the C a primary or secondary victims?
What is a primary victim?
A primary victim is someone who reasonably fears for their own physical safety or they’re in the zone of danger. This means anyone who’s directly affected by the negligent act. In Page v Smith, they established a 2 stage test.
1) Primary Victim does not need to show psychiatric injury is foreseeable, merely that some physical injury was foreseeable.
APPLY
2) Secondly, the Primary Victim does not have to be a person with normal fortitude.
APPLY
What is a secondary victim?
A secondary victim is someone who is an unwilling witness to the traumatic event but they’re not personally in physical danger themselves (e.g they seen the traumatic event, but were far enough to not be in danger).
What does Alcock say?
In Alcock, for secondary victims are the following ‘control mechanisms’ which must be established before the claim in psychiatric injury. However, this recently has been updated in the case of Paul, Polmear and purchase (2024):
1) LOVE - close ties of love and affection. Close family and friends.
2) WITNESS - the secondary victims must witness the accident or the immediate aftermath. In Mcloughlin v O’Brian, ‘immediate aftermath’ is seeing someone not cleaned up or in the immediate post-accident state.
3) C must’ve directly percieved the accident or the immediate aftermath involving the close family.
4) It’s sufficient for the C who was present at the accident or its immediate aftermath to show there’s a connection between witnessing the event/ illness suffered.
What is the side rule - rescuers?
Rescuers - If the rescuers is a primary victim (did put themselves in danger), they can claim. If secondary,(did not put themselves in danger) then they must satisfy Paul, Polmear and purchase. Chadwick v British Transport.
Side Rule - bystanders?
Bystanders in McFarlane - Bystanders satisfy the control mechanisms.
