Psychiatric injury Flashcards
Paper 2 tort law
Stage 1: recognised psychiatric injury
C must be suffering from a recognised psychiatric injury not ordinary human emotions ( Reilly v Merseyside Health Authority)
Stage 1: Sion v Hampstead health authority
claimant must show that illness was caused by a traumatic event or an “assault on the senses”
Stage 2: were claimants primary or secondary victims
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Stage 2: Primary victims
a primary victim is a person who reasonably fears for their own physical safety or is within the zone of danger (Page v Smith)
Stage 2: primary victim test 1)
primary victims do not have to show that the psychiatric injury was foreseeable, merely that some kind of personal injury was foreseeable
Stage 2: Primary victim test 2)
the primary victim does not need to be a person of normal fortitude
Stage 2: Secondary victim
unwilling witness to the traumatic event but is not personally in danger
Stage 2: Secondary victim control mechanisms
(Alcock) established the control mechanisms and they were updated by Paul, Polmear and Purchase
Control 1 LOVE
must have close ties of love and affection with the primary victim eg friends, family, partners
Control 2 WITNESS
must witness the accident or its immediate aftermath with your own unaided senses (Mcloughlin v O’Brian)
Control 3: D must have directly perceived
Must perceive the accident or it’s immediate aftermath involving a close family member
Control 4: Connection
Sufficient for the c who was present at the accident or witnessed its immediate aftermath to show that there is a connection between witnessing the event and illness suffered
Stage 2 side rule: rescuers
Chadwick v British transport- if the rescuer is a primary victim they can claim, if secondary victim they must satisfy Alcock control mechanisms
Stage 2 side rule: Bystanders
McFarlane- bystanders cannot claim unless they satisfy Alcock control mechanisms
