psychiatric injury

C owed DOC by D if

1. suffering from recognised psychiatric injury resulting from incident, due to D’s negligence

   • Reilly

2. illness caused by a traumatic event or “assault on the senses”

   • Sion

identify whether…

primary or secondary victim

Primary victim

• reasonably fears for own safety or is within the danger zone

• Page V Smith- House of Lords

  1. don’t have to show PI was foreseeable, just some kind of personal injury was

  2. doesn’t need to be a person of normal fortitude

     • egg shell thin skull rule applies

Secondary victim

• unwilling witness to traumatic event or its immediate aftermath, but not personally in danger of physical harm

• a person of normal fortitude must have suffered the same injury in the circumstances

• all 3 Alcock control mechanisms must be satisfied for claim to be successful-

  1. close ties of love and affection

     • McLoughlin

  2. must witness accident or immediate aftermath

     • must suffer mental injuries at scene of accident or immediate aftermath

     • McLoughlin

     • explain timelines, how do you know victim is in “post accident state” when SV sees them?

  3. induced by shock

     • Lord Ackner

     • “sudden appreciation by sight or sound of a horrifying event which violently agitates the mind”

     • Sion

Rescuer

• must objectively put themselves in danger, so be a PV

  • White/Chadwhick

• it is in public interest to allow claims by rescuers if they suffer psychiatric injury

• danger + injury is foreseeable to those who try to help and rescue

Bystander

• can’t claim unless they satisfy Alcock, because they are witnesses

  • Mcfarlane