Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust v Ronayne [2015] EWCA Civ 588 – Law Journals

Psychiatric injury: Primary rules

Is a claimant for psychiatric injuries associated with their child’s birth a primary or secondary victim? Suzanne Lambert discusses ‘Where the claimant is a primary victim (who is involved in an accident, for example), as opposed to a secondary victim (who may be a mere witness to an accident), there should be no distinction made …

Continue reading "Psychiatric injury: Primary rules"

This post is only available to members.

Secondary victim claims: Is the tide turning?

Tom Gibson discusses case law – and settlements – in the complicated area of psychiatric injury claims by secondary victims ‘Tomlinson LJ’s fourth criterion – that a claimant must have suffered a diagnosable psychiatric illness that was caused by a “sudden shocking event” – tends to be the most difficult requirement for claimants to satisfy.’ …

Continue reading "Secondary victim claims: Is the tide turning?"

This post is only available to members.

Case review: Clinical negligence update

Dr Simon Fox QC provides a summary of all the important cases from 2017 ‘In ABC, the court considered the public interest, duty of confidentiality to the father, undermining of the doctor-patient relationship, pressure on patients to agree to disclosure, psychiatric harm to non-patients, burden on medical staff and incremental manner of development of the …

Continue reading "Case review: Clinical negligence update"

This post is only available to members.

Psychiatric Injury: Victims of circumstance

Liam Ryan reports on claims by rescuers and secondary victims, and assesses the need for law reform ‘Is it not time to at least consider if people who provide more than “trivial or peripheral assistance” in the wake of a disaster should also be classed as rescuers in a new, and wider, concept?’ In recent …

Continue reading "Psychiatric Injury: Victims of circumstance"

This post is only available to members.

Psychiatric Injury: Picking up the pieces

Liam Ryan investigates unintended tragedies and the scope of secondary victims ‘It seems now to be clear that where a defendant is negligent while a baby is still “in utero” and personal injury (either to the child or mother) was a foreseeable consequence, then the mother will be capable of recovering compensation for any subsequent …

Continue reading "Psychiatric Injury: Picking up the pieces"

This post is only available to members.

Case Report: RE v Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust [2017] EWHC 824 (QB)

Shoulder dystocia; secondary victims; psychiatric injury; destruction of medical records ‘The essence of the case was that the infant claimant could have been and should have been born sooner (at least six minutes), in which case she would have avoided all injury. The defendant denied all of the allegations.’In this case, the infant claimant had …

Continue reading "Case Report: RE v Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust [2017] EWHC 824 (QB)"

This post is only available to members.

Liability: A catalogue of errors

In part two of his article, Robert Weir QC continues his compilation of the most significant cases involving liability decisions from the last year ‘The judge properly recognised that the burden of proof lay with the claimant and did not draw inference of negligence from the fact that the extrusion had been retained.’ Part …

Continue reading "Liability: A catalogue of errors"

This post is only available to members.

Psychiatric Damage: Problems for claimants

Edward Bishop QC sets out cases that demonstrate the instances in which a secondary victim claim might be successful ‘Claimants advisers must be alert to the need for psychiatric experts to attribute recognised illness to the shock of seeing a horrific event, rather than other factors.’Claims for damages for psychiatric illness suffered by those who …

Continue reading "Psychiatric Damage: Problems for claimants"

This post is only available to members.