Pathological grief disorders: Parental psychiatric injuries

Julian Matthews examines some of the interesting legal issues arising in claims by parents for their own psychiatric conditions secondary to injuries to their children ‘The starting point for any legal analysis is that although it is foreseeable that a person who has witnessed an accident in which a loved one is killed or severely …
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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.’ …
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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 …
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Case Report: Jones v Ramshaw [2011] (unreported 5 September 2011)

Liability; psychiatric injury; secondary victims The judge preferred the claimant’s psychiatrist’s diagnosis of PTSD over the defendant’s psychiatrist’s diagnosis of deep grief.This case provides an illuminating consideration of the scope of liability in this difficult area of law. Facts On 2 November 2006, the claimant’s daughter was one of four teenage girls in the back …
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