Nervous Shock

Abstract

The law of tort gives no damages for grief, anxiety and depression independent of physical injury. These are dismissed as normal human emotions which any normal person experiences after a particularly traumatic event. To claim damages in tort, a plaintiff must prove that she is suffering from what Lord Bridge has described as a `positive psychiatric illness' (McLoughlin v. O'Brian [1983] AC 410), but what is commonly known amongst lawyers as `nervous shock'. Whether the plaintiff's mental condition amounts to such an illness is a matter for the court after hearing expert evidence from psychiatrists. As the medical profession's understanding of psychiatric conditions develops, so the law may admit new varieties of nervous shock. Recently, attention has focused upon Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Awareness of this condition was heightened by studies of veterans of the Falklands War and that experience was invaluable in the treatment of victims of a number of manmade disasters that have occurred since (the sinking of the ferry Herald of Free Enterprise in Zeebrugge harbour and the fire at King's Cross Underground station are prominent examples). The condition first received judicial recognition in the litigation that followed the Hillsborough football stadium tragedy in which 95 fans were crushed to death after the police had negligently let too many fans on to the terraces at the Leppings Lane end of the ground (Alcock v. Chief Constable of South Yorkshire [1992] 1 AC 310).