Tort law: Liability for psychiatric trauma - Essay Example

A relaxation of the guidelines would only complicate matters by opening the floodgates and as such the practical problems are probably insuperable. One of the most important lines drawn was enunciated in Alcock v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police. In this case it was held that in order for a claim to be substantiated for psychiatric injury the plaintiff must demonstrate that he or she suffered from a recognizable psychiatric condition as a direct result of what he saw in respect of the incident.

Lord Ackner said that nervous shock necessarily involved a ‘sudden appreciation by sight or sound of an horrifying event.’2 In Alcock, 95 persons were crushed to death at a football match in Sheffield. Many of those involved as well as close family members suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and claimed damages for nervous shock. (These victims, bystanders, family and rescuers are generally secondary victims, whereas primary victims are persons directly involved in the accident)3 Allowing the claims, Alcock also ruled that secondary victims, who were not close family members as in a parent and a child will be closely examined.

This principle was applied in North Glamorgan NHS Trust v Walters.4 It is important to note here that the judiciary has made a valiant effort to limit the class or category of potential victims. While Alcock draws the line restraining who might come within the range of secondary victims by virtue of their relationship with the primary victim, there are those who advocate broadening the category to include persons who share amorous relationships with the primary victim. Kay Wheat, Senior Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University is of the opinion that homosexuals in stable relationships should fall within the category of secondary victims.

5 Indeed, in recent years there has been a tendency