Succinct and readable, the book sets out a preferred approach to dealing with claims for psychiatric injuries, one which recognises the scientific advances of recent times and reflects good legal reasoning.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION: Thus Far and How Much Farther?
CHAPTER 1: A Medical Perspective
Introduction
Responses to trauma
Relevant factors in the aetiology of trauma
CHAPTER 2: Step by Cautious Step
Introduction
Early treatment of nervous shock as physical injury
The genesis of limitations
Foreseeability: from flexibility to subterranean mutilation
The Dillon v Legg legacy
Australian manoeuvres: Jaensch to Gifford and beyond
The English disaster: Alcock and beyond
CHAPTER 3: Competing Policy Considerations
Introduction
Relevant policy considerations
Balancing competing considerations
CHAPTER 4: Bright Lines and Boundary Stones
Introduction
Concepts of damage
Relevant stressors: the class of plaintiff
Means of perceiving the stressor
Physical proximity
Causal proximity
Pre-existing relationships: circumstantial proximity
Self-inflicted death, injury or peril
CHAPTER 5: Stopping the Thing Where Good Sense Stops It
Introduction
Inclusion and exclusion
Ipp Report and Australian tort reform legislation
The relevant damage
Conclusion
Table of Cases
Table of Statutes
Index