What is a nervous shock in law?
e In English law, a nervous shock is a psychiatric / mental illness or injury inflicted upon a person by intentional or negligent actions or omissions of another. Often it is a psychiatric disorder triggered by witnessing an accident, for example an injury caused to one's parents or spouse.
What is ‘nervous shock and psychiatric harm’?
Nervous shock and psychiatric harm mean any mental or psychological injury sustained by a claimant. If a claimant has suffered physical and psychiatric injury their claim will be assessed as it would be for physical harm. If they have suffered only psychiatric harm then the case will be dealt with using the mechanisms described below.
What are the elements of a nervous shock claim?
The common law provides three clear elements to prove a nervous shock claim: That a duty of care is owed by the defendant to the plaintiff; and That it was reasonably foreseeable that the plaintiff could suffer psychiatric injury due to the defendant’s act or omission; and
Can I claim for pure mental harm or nervous shock?
Claims for damages for pure mental harm or nervous shock should only be brought by individuals who have suffered very significant psychological injury as a result of a particular event. The court process usually endures for beyond 18 months if matters are incapable of settlement.
What is meant by nervous shock?
In English law, a nervous shock is a psychiatric / mental illness or injury inflicted upon a person by intentional or negligent actions or omissions of another. Often it is a psychiatric disorder triggered by witnessing an accident, for example an injury caused to one's parents or spouse.
What are the elements of nervous shock?
In order for a claimant to receive damages from nervous shock due to the negligence of the defendant, they must prove all the elements of the tort of negligence: 1) a duty of care exists; 2) there is a breach in that duty; 3) the causal link between the breach and shock; 4) shock was not too remote a consequence.
Can a person claim damages caused due to nervous shock which he suffered on seeking the aftermath of the accident after being told about the accident?
If you suffer nervous shock, you may also experience 'loss and damage' as a result if, for example, you are unable to work because of your injury. You may have a right to pursue a common law claim if the nervous shock, and loss and damage was caused by the negligent acts of another.
What are the symptoms of nervous shock?
Symptoms of neurogenic shock include:Low blood pressure (hypotension).Slow heart rhythm (bradyarrhythmia).Flushed, warm skin that gets cold and clammy later.Lips and fingernails that look blue.Lack of full consciousness.
Why are nervous shock cases different?
The key difference is that nervous shock claims are much more difficult to prove than cases involving physical injury. This is because nervous shock is a legal term and refers to someone developing a psychiatric illness that results from witnessing something distressing or traumatic.
What is a primary victim nervous shock?
Primary victims - those directly involved in sufficiently shocking (usually life threatening) situations. Secondary victims - those not directly threatened, often close family members of those injured or killed.
What is the sudden shock requirement?
'SUDDEN SHOCK' REQUIREMENT. Margaret Fordham* The requirement that claims in negligence for psychiatric injury must stem from shock-induced. damage is both artificial and arbitrary.
What is inevitable accident?
Definitions of inevitable accident. a natural and unavoidable catastrophe that interrupts the expected course of events. synonyms: act of God, force majeure, unavoidable casualty, vis major.
What is tort mayhem?
Mayhem refers to the permanently disabling or disfiguring the person. Mayhem is a tort that causes severe injury to the victim that he is unable to defend oneself from the tortfeasor.
How is nervous shock treated?
First, your doctor will immobilize you to prevent further damage. Then they will give you fluids intravenously to regulate your blood pressure. If your blood pressure is too low, you may be given vasopressors, or medication that helps to tighten your blood vessels and raise pressure.
What does being in shock feel like?
The symptoms of shock include cold and sweaty skin that may be pale or gray, weak but rapid pulse, irritability, thirst, irregular breathing, dizziness, profuse sweating, fatigue, dilated pupils, lackluster eyes, anxiety, confusion, nausea, and reduced urine flow. If untreated, shock is usually fatal.
How long does shock last for?
So some people recover from emotional shock in several hours. Others in several days, and some in several weeks. And for some, depending on what they go through, shock can even go on for six weeks or more. Note that it is also possible to experience 'delayed' emotional shock.
What are the essentials of nuisance?
In a suit of nuisance arising out of physical discomfort, there are two essential conditions required. In excess of the natural and ordinary course of enjoyment of the property. The usage by the third party should be of out of the natural course of enjoyment from one party.
What is tort mayhem?
Mayhem refers to the permanently disabling or disfiguring the person. Mayhem is a tort that causes severe injury to the victim that he is unable to defend oneself from the tortfeasor.
Is extreme shock a psychiatric illness?
"Shock in this context involves the sudden appreciation by sight or sound of a horrifying event, which violently agitates the mind. It does not include psychiatric illness caused by the accumulation over a period of time of more gradual attacks of the nervous system."
What is meant by Volenti non fit injuria?
Volenti non fit iniuria (or injuria) (Latin: "to a willing person, injury is not done") is a common law doctrine which states that if someone willingly places themselves in a position where harm might result, knowing that some degree of harm might result, they are not able to bring a claim against the other party in ...
What is nervous shock?
In English law, a nervous shock is a psychiatric / mental illness or injury inflicted upon a person by intentional or negligent actions or omissions of another. Often it is a psychiatric disorder triggered by witnessing an accident, for example an injury caused to one's parents or spouse. Although the term "nervous shock" has been described as "inaccurate" and "misleading", it continues to be applied as a useful abbreviation for a complex concept. The possibility of recovering damages for nervous shock, particularly caused by negligence, is strongly limited in English law.
What is intentional shock?
Main article: Intentional infliction of emotional distress. It is well established in English law that a person who has intentionally and without good reason caused another emotional distress will be liable for any psychiatric injury that follows.
What is a primary victim?
A "primary victim" is a person who was physically injured or could foreseeably have been physically injured as a result of the defendants negligence. An example of this is a claimant who is involved in a car accident caused by the defendant's careless driving and gets mildly injured (or even remains unharmed) as a consequence, but the fright from the crash triggers a serious mental condition. Such a claimant can recover damages for his car, his minor injuries and the nervous shock he had suffered. Rescuers (such as firemen, policemen or volunteers) who put themselves in the way of danger and suffer psychiatric shock as a result used to be "primary victims", until the decision in White v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police explained that rescuers had no special position in the law and had to prove reasonable fear as a consequence of exposure to danger.
What is a breach of duty?
A breach of that duty, i.e. the defendant's actions or omissions in those circumstances fell below what would be expected from a reasonable person in the circumstances.
Can the courts award damages for nervous shock?
It is in these cases where the courts have been particularly reluctant to award damages for nervous shock. In several decisions, the courts have identified several strict requirements for the recognition of a duty of care not to cause nervous shock, as well as causation and remoteness:
Can a person of normal fortitude suffer psychiatric damage?
It must be reasonably foreseeable that a person of "normal fortitude" in the claim ant’s position would suffer psychiatric damage. The closer the tie between the claimant and the victim, the more likely it is that he would succeed in this element. However, once it is shown that some psychiatric damage was foreseeable, it does not matter that the claimant was particularly susceptible to psychiatric illness - the defendant must "take his victim as he finds him" and pay for all the consequences of nervous shock (see "Eggshell skull" rule ). A mere bystander can therefore hardly count on compensation for psychiatric shock, unless he had witnessed something so terrible that anybody could be expected to suffer psychiatric injury as a result. However, it seems that such a case is purely theoretic (see McFarlane v. EE Caledonia Ltd, where the plaintiff witnessed an explosion of a rig where he and his colleagues worked, but received no compensation).
Was nervous shock a consequence of the breach?
The nervous shock was not too remote a consequence of the breach.
What is nervous shock?
Nervous shock is the onset of a psychiatric illness caused by witnessing the negligent action, or the results thereof, of another. For the purposes of succeeding in a suit it must be diagnosed as more than grief or sorrow i.e. an actual psychiatric illness. Nicholas N Chin says that the nervous shock “. . . label refers to a wide range of recognized psychiatric illnesses such as phobic anxiety, neuroses and post-traumatic stress disorder, which are more than simply grief, upset or unhappiness.” [2] John Eric Erichsen described nervous shock injuries as part of a clinical pattern following railway accidents [3]. Erichsen said that many of the railway accidents lead to “severe and prolonged” nervous shock, “weariness”, “cramps” and other symptoms. Lords Keith and Oliver in Alcock & Others v Chief Constable Of South Yorkshire Police [4]feel that the term nervous shock is a “misleading” one as in fact it covers a wide variety of possible claims in that area of negligence.
What was the plaintiff's case in Nervous Shock?
The plaintiff sued for shock and the judgement of the trial court and Court of Appeal was in his favour. This decision sparked many decisions which increasingly recognised and compensated victims of nervous shock.
What happened in Hambrook v Stokes Bros?
In Hambrook v Stokes Bros. [15] Mrs. Hambrook, who was pregnant at the time, had just dropped her three children off at the corner by the school. As she was walking away she saw a lorry, negligently left unattended with the engine running, coming rapidly towards her. She wasn’t in personal danger but she feared for her children. A crowd gathered and rumours that a young girl with glasses had been injured. This fit the description of her daughter. She became very anxious and raced to the school to find her children. There she discovered that the girl who was injured was her daughter. She went to the hospital and found her child seriously injured. Mrs. Hambrook developed nervous shock from which she haemorrhaged. Two months later she was operated on and the dead foetus removed and several days after this she died. The plaintiff (her husband) sued for the loss of her services as manager in his restaurant. The question was could there be recovery for apprehension or fear for a third party. It was held by the majority that in certain circumstances it is unduly harsh to say that you can only recover for fear for your own safety. Two of the judges offered up scenarios where two mothers and children are on a street with a car hurtling towards them. They ask should the mother whose thought is only for herself be allowed to recover or the mother whose fear is for her child? Since this case it has been held that it is possible to recover damages for nervous shock occurring after either actual or apprehended physical injury not only to the plaintiff but also to a third party.
What case dealt with nervous shock?
The issue of nervous shock was dealt with again in the Irish court in the case of Bell v Great Northern Railway Co. [12]. The judgement of the court this time was significant as they had the choice of both the Byrne and Coultas verdicts. Luckily enough for the plaintiff in this situation the decision of Coultas was that of the Privy Council, for if it had been a decision of the House of Lords then the Irish courts would have been bound by precedent to follow it. Instead they followed that of Byrne. Palles CB said “As the relation between fright and injury to the nerve and brain structures of the body is a matter which depends entirely upon scientific and medical testimony, it is impossible for any court to lay down, as a matter of law, that if negligence causes fright, and such fright, in its turn, so affects such structures as to cause injury to health, such injury cannot be a consequence which in the ordinary course of things would flow from the negligence unless such injury accompanies such negligence in point of time”. Former Chief Justice Ronan Keane said in an address to NUI Galway’s Law Society [13] that Palles CB’s judgement was ahead of its time.
What did the court say about the Ngiam Kong Seng case?
The Court in the Ngiam Kong Seng case said that there was a lack of case law in the area of psychiatric injury. This explains their reliance on foreign case law, in particular English case law on the matter. The Singapore courts allow recovery for nervous shock.
What happened in Hinz v Berry?
In Hinz v Berry [16] the plaintiff was out for a drive with her husband and four children. On the way home they stopped for a picnic in a lay-by. The plaintiff crossed the road with one child to pick bluebells. A car driven by the defendant was out of control and it crashed into the van where her husband and other children were making tea. On hearing the crash the plaintiff turned around and saw the accident. Her husband was very seriously injured and died a short while after and most of the children suffered injuries. After the shock of witnessing the crash she suffered prolonged morbid depression. The Court held that she was entitled to recover damages because she had a recognisable psychiatric illness. This was in part due also to the close relationship between her and some of the parties to the crash.
What was the plaintiff's husband's lawsuit?
The plaintiff (her husband) sued for the loss of her services as manager in his restaurant . The question was could there be recovery for apprehension or fear for a third party. It was held by the majority that in certain circumstances it is unduly harsh to say that you can only recover for fear for your own safety.
NERVOUS SHOCK
Nervous shock and psychiatric harm mean any mental or psychological injury sustained by a claimant. If a claimant has suffered physical and psychiatric injury their claim will be assessed as it would be for physical harm. If they have suffered only psychiatric harm then the case will be dealt with using the mechanisms described below.
PRIMARY VICTIMS
A claimant will be a primary victim if they suffered psychiatric damage as a result of reasonable fear for their own physical safety. This means that the claimant was involved, or feared that they might be involved, in the negligent event. They must have been in the zone of physical danger.
DUTY OF CARE
For a primary victim the standard mechanisms for establishing a duty of care are used. (See General Duty of Care section).
LOSS IS FORESEEABLE
If the physical harm suffered was foreseeable then any psychiatric harm suffered is also automatically foreseeable. The main case in this area is Page v Smith (1996) (HoL).
MEDICALLY RECOGNISED ILLNESS
However, the claimant must prove that their harm is a medically recognised form of psychiatric illness.
HARM IS MATERIAL
The harm must be ‘material’; for example the courts will not allow recovery for fear, distress or mental grief, or what they consider to be an ordinary reaction to an unpleasant situation.
SECONDARY VICTIMS
A secondary victim suffers nervous shock due to fear for the safety of another. Usually this would be witnessing harm done to another person.
