Indeed, it is far easier for a claimant to make a claim for small cut on his or her arm, than it is for that same claimant to receive damages for years of psychological harm. Secondly, the ‘egg-shell skull’ (as often seen in criminal law) applies to psychiatric injury. Medical Law - English Tort Law - Bolitho v. City and Hackney Health Authority *UK LAW* - Essential for Medical Interviews & Examinations of all levels. Medical negligence — Gynaecology — Post traumatic stress disorder — Claim by mother that she suffered injury when misinformed that her baby had died and learnt, about six hours later, that baby had survived — Further claim that defendants failed to refer her for … Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Instead, the logic in Alcock was that it was impossible to identify individual primary victims from the broadcast, and so whilst viewers might know a close relation was in that particular stand of the stadium, they could not directly see the harm done to them. Finally, there is precedent to suggest that negligently presenting shocking news to someone that can meet the standard for actionable psychiatric injury. Protected by copyright. • Recipients of distressing news (AB v Glossop & Thameside HA [1997] 8 Med LR 91; Allin v City and Hackney HA [1996] 7 Med LR 167) • Victims of extreme or outrageous practical jokes (Wilkinson v Downton [1897] 2 QB 57) • Victims of workplace stress (Hatton v Sutherland [2002] EWCA Civ 76; The former class includes those directly involved in an accident or incident (for example, those in the car for traffic accidents), and the latter includes those who witness the accident or incident. Instead, as a means of separating legitimate and illegitimate claims the law states that psychiatric injury must manifest in a medically recognised condition. Start studying Tort: Psychiatric Damage. Bolitho v City and Hackney Health Authority 1996 - UKHL. more. Facts. As a general rule, sadness, grief or general distress are not covered – they are held to be expected parts of everyday life. These three criteria combined provide the basis for a claim as a secondary victim. Allin v City & Hackney HA Medical negligence — Gynaecology — Post traumatic stress disorder — Claim by mother that she suffered injury when misinformed that her baby had died and learnt, about six hours later, that baby had survived — Further claim that defendants failed to refer her for psychological treatment — Case No: MY451226 In Bolitho v City and Hackney Health Authority, the House of Lords followed and applied the ‘ Bolam principle’. In other worlds, the courts largely require that the secondary victim be closely related in some way to a primary victim. This means that cases involving ‘slow burn’ illness (such as long term exposure to a harmful influence) are unlikely to be recoverable under this heading of damages. In Page v Smith [1996] AC 155 the court held that that two classes of claimants exist with regard to psychiatric injury; primary and secondary. The second group of people is those who believed themselves to have caused the death or injury of another were included in this category. a mother was told, sensitively but incorrectly, that her child had died, claim successful user on your corporate account. Although the case law regarding secondary victims focuses on seeing other people get hurt, there is precedent to suggest that seeing property destroyed can be sufficient to establish a case for psychiatric injury. 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