Psychiatric injury, resulting from nervous shock, can lead to a specific type of claim under the tort of negligence. The personal (psychiatric) injury is a long-term, diagnosed mental injury that is more than mere shock or grief.
The most important case around this area is Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire (1992), which arose from the Hillsborough disaster. Ten appeals were made to the House of Lords (now the Supreme Court), all claiming for psychiatric injury. Two of the claimants had been at the football ground, others had seen the events unfold on television or had heard about the event in different ways, and some had identified bodies at the makeshift mortuary in the stadium.
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