Negligence: Pure Psychiatric Harm Flashcards

Flashcards covering the legal principles of tort regarding negligence and pure psychiatric harm, including primary and secondary victim rules, the Alcock control mechanisms, and relevant case law for the SQE1 syllabus.

Pure psychiatric harm

Psychiatric harm suffered without any physical impact or injury to the claimant.

Consequential psychiatric harm

Psychiatric harm that follows on from a physical injury suffered by the claimant, which is compensated as part of the pain and suffering for that physical injury.

Primary victim

A person who was actually involved in an incident, being either in the actual area of danger or reasonably believing that they were in danger.

Secondary victim

A person who is not involved in an incident themselves but witnesses injury to someone else or fears for the safety of another person.

Medically recognised psychiatric illness

A requirement for recovery in pure psychiatric harm cases that excludes simple worry or anxiety and must be a diagnosed condition like post-traumatic stress disorder.

Shock-induced physical condition

A physical condition caused by a sudden shock, such as a heart attack or a miscarriage, which can satisfy the requirement for damage in pure psychiatric harm claims.

Page v Smith [1995]

A case where the House of Lords held that if physical injury was foreseeable to a primary victim, a duty of care is also owed for pure psychiatric harm actually suffered.

Alcock control mechanisms

The multi-part test established to narrow down the number of secondary victims to whom a duty of care is owed, involving foreseeability of harm, and proximity of relationship, time, space, and perception.

Normal fortitude

The standard used to assess the foreseeability of psychiatric harm for secondary victims, asking if it is reasonably foreseeable that a person of ordinary mental strength in the claimant's position would suffer illness.

Proximity of relationship

The requirement that a secondary victim have a close relationship of love and affection with the person endangered, which is presumed for spouses, parents/children, and fiances/fiancees.

Proximity in time and space

The requirement that a secondary victim must be present at the accident or its immediate aftermath.

Proximity of perception

The requirement that a secondary victim must see or hear the accident or its immediate aftermath with their own senses, rather than being told by a third party.

Immediate aftermath

The period following an accident during which a claimant may still satisfy proximity requirements, such as seeing victims still in their post-accident condition at a hospital as in McLoughlin v O’Brian [1982].

Novus actus interveniens

A new intervening act that breaks the chain of causation, suggested in Alcock as potentially occurring if broadcasters transmitted images of recognizable individuals' suffering.

Rescuers

Individuals who assist at an accident; they are classed as primary victims if in the actual area of danger and secondary victims if they were not exposed to physical risk.

White v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police [1999]

A case holding that being an employee or a rescuer does not confer special status, meaning these individuals must still meet the standard primary or secondary victim tests for pure psychiatric harm.

Chadwick v British Railways Board [1967]

A case where a rescuer who entered train wreckage to assist the injured succeeded in a claim as a primary victim because he was in the area of danger and at risk of physical injury.

Egg-shell skull rule

The principle that a defendant must take their victim as they find them, allowing a claimant to recover for the full extent of harm even if they were particularly vulnerable (egg-shell personality).

Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police [1991]

The key authority arising from the Hillsborough stadium disaster that established the current rules relating to secondary victims and pure psychiatric harm.

Dulieu v White & Sons [1901]

An early example of a primary victim claim where a barmaid suffered a miscarriage after a vehicle crashed into her workplace, fearing for her own physical safety.