Psychiatric Harm

C can only be owed a DOC if he suffered a medically recognised psychiatric condition, not mere grief, emotion or stress.

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2. Was C a Primary Victim?

C is a primary victim if C was either physically injured, or physical injury was reasonably foreseeable.

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3. Was C a Secondary Victim?

a) Did C have close ties of love and affection? There is a rebuttable presumption with children/parents and spouses, but must be proven if it’s anyone else

b) Was C present at the accident, or during its very immediate aftermath?

c) Did C witness the aftermath/accident with his own senses?

d) Would a person of normal fortitude, in the claimant’s position, have suffered psychiatric harm?

The event must have been sudden and horrifying - not a slow, drawn out process. It must also be contemporaneous with the negligence, more or less.