Psychiatric injury

• Which case tells us grief, sorrow, fear, panic and terror don't amount to psychiatric injury?

  Hicks
• What is psychiatric injury also known as?

  Nervous shock
• Which case defines psychiatric injury as a "long-term, diagnosed mental injury which is greater than shock"?

  Behrens
• Which case tells us psychiatric injury is a recognised psychiatric illness caused by the D's breach of duty?

  Hinz
• What does Behrens define psychiatric injury as?

  A long-term, diagnosed mental injury which is greater than shock
• What two types of victims will the courts offer different approaches as to whether a duty is owed?

  Primary victim

  Secondary victim
• What is a primary victim defined as?

  Someone in the zone of physical danger (includes near misses) created by the D. who suffers mental injury
• What is a secondary victim defined as?

  Someone not in the zone of physical danger but a witness who suffers mental injury
• The D. must have owed the C. a duty of care - which was breached causing a mental injury
• What is a case where the D. was not a primary victim?

  Macfarlane
• What two criteria must be met for a duty of care to be between the negligent D. and a primary victim?

  C. must be in the zone of physical danger (objective test)

  Some form of personal injury is foreseeable (not necessarily psychiatric)
• What does the case of Macfarlane demonstrate?

  C. not a primary victim
• What does the case of Page demonstrate?

  Some personal injury was foreseeable, therefore there was a duty of care between defendant and primary victim
• Which case demonstrates that some personal injury was foreseeable and therefore there was a duty of care between D. and primary victim?

  Page
• Where did the original 5 stage criteria to determine a secondary victim come from?

  Alcock
• Which case reduced the 5 stage criteria for a secondary victim to 4 stages?

  Paul, Polmear and Purchase
• What is the first element of the Alcock test?

  Close tie of love and affection with a primary victim so it's reasonably foreseeable they'd suffer psychiatric damage
• What are some relationships where it is automatically assumed there's a close tie of love and affection with the primary victim?

  Parent and child

  Fiances

  Spouses
• What happens in relationships other than parent and child, etc.?

  Must be proven - checking of messages, emails, contact etc.
• What is the second element of the Alcock test?

  Be proximate to the accident itself in time or space or its immediate aftermath
• What is the third element of the Alcock test?


  Witness the accident/immediate aftermath with their unaided senses
• What does unaided senses include for the third element of the Alcock test?

  Hearing, sight and touch
• What does unaided senses exclude for the third element of the Alcock test?

  Watching on TV, being told by someone, listening on radio
• What is the general timeframe provided by Mcloughlin for the immediate aftermath?

  Within two hours
• According to what case is the general timeframe for the immediate aftermath within two hours?

  Mcloughlin
• What case means the courts, concerning the immediate aftermath, viewing a longer period as constituting a single event?

  Walters
• What does Walters tell us about the timeframe for the immediate aftermath?

  Courts will be flexible and view a longer period as constituting to single event
• What is the fourth element of the Alcock test?

  It must be reasonably forseeable that a person of normal, ordinary fortitude (strength) would have suffered psychiatric injury due to the D's breach of duty
• What is a case for the fourth element of the Alcock test?

  Simmons