Contents

• Brenda's Story
• The Legal Case
• The Claim - Medical Evidence
• The Defence - Medical Evidence
• Settlement

Brenda's Story

The law states that three elements must be proved before damages can be recovered. These are:-

1. The person must be within a class of persons whose claims are recognised in law - Brenda was the daughter and there was a close tie of love and affection between the mother and daughter.
2. The shocking event must be sufficiently related both in time and nature to the original accident - Brenda saw her mother in a state similar to that at the scene of the accident as she had received little medical treatment to disguise her horrific injuries.
3. The person must have suffered psychiatric damage through the shock of witnessing the accident or its immediate aftermath.

Brenda had been caring for her mother who had been suffering from suicidal tendencies following the breakdown of her marriage. Brenda's mother had already attempted to commit suicide on two occasions by overdosing on tablets. On the third occasion, Brenda was out walking with her mother when her mother tried to throw herself in front of an oncoming bus. Brenda managed to pull her mother to safety and immediately took her to the psychiatric department at the local hospital where her mother was seen by her treating consultant psychiatrist.

The consultant psychiatrist contacted a couple of local hospitals to try and find a bed for Brenda's mother to enable her to receive psychiatric treatment as an in patient. No beds were available and so Brenda's mother was discharged into the care of her family until a bed became available. No guidance was provided to Brenda and her family as to how to care for her mother during the interim period.

Two days later, Brenda's mother again attempted to commit suicide by throwing herself under the wheels of an articulated lorry. Brenda did not witness the accident but directly witnessed the immediate aftermath of the accident in terms of seeing her mother removed from the ambulance in a state similar to that at the scene of the accident.

Brenda saw her mother in a ventilated state and being given oxygen. She saw the extent of her mother's wounds and remained at the hospital whilst her mother underwent brain surgery. Brenda's mother sustained serious injuries.

Brenda's mother spent the next 18 months in hospital, whereupon, she went to live with Brenda and her family. Caring for her mother created enormous stress for Brenda and affected her relationship with her mother, her husband and her children.

The Legal Case

Brenda initially contacted Alexander Harris Solicitors for advice about suing the Trust responsible for the hospital in relation to allegations of negligence concerning the psychiatric treatment afforded to her mother by her mother's treating consultant psychiatrist. As specialists in clinical negligence, Brenda was advised that she had grounds to bring a claim in her own right for compensation for psychiatric injuries as a result of having witnessed the direct immediate aftermath of her mother's accident.

Court proceedings were commenced on Brenda's behalf on the grounds that she was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder as a consequence of a sudden and violent agitation of her mind having witnessed the immediate aftermath of the accident to her mother, when, having followed the ambulance to the hospital, Brenda saw her mother in a similar condition to that which she had been in on the road.

Brenda had been very close to her mother. She had been caring for her prior to the accident and had tried to help her mother through the depression. Brenda had been attempting unsuccessfully to have her mother's treating consultant psychiatrist admit her mother to hospital because she was afraid that her mother would attempt suicide.

Brenda developed distressing dreams of her mother following the accident. She experienced numbing of emotional responsiveness, an increased startled response, insomnia and impaired concentration and irritability. She also became psychologically dependent on alcohol. She began to experience difficulty in coping with her own family. She missed the mother whom she previously knew and considered the mother whom she knew had effectively died on the date of the accident. Brenda struggled to maintain a loving relationship with her own children. Her quality of life was devastated.

The Consultant Psychiatrist was of the opinion that with further counselling, within a year Brenda would largely recover and within 2 or 3 years, only minor symptoms would persist.

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The Defence

The Defendant instructed a Consultant Psychiatrist. The Defendant initially did not admit that Brenda witnessed the aftermath of the accident by arriving at the hospital within a short period of time and Brenda was required to prove the same. If Brenda could prove sufficient proximity to her mother's accident and/or its immediate aftermath, the Defendant denied that Brenda suffered any psychiatric damage as a result.

Upon serving the Defendant with a detailed witness statement from Brenda setting out the events of the day in question and the condition of her mother upon her arrival at the hospital, the Defendant admitted liability and judgment was entered in Brenda's favour.

The only outstanding issue between the parties related to the cause of Brenda's psychiatric injuries. The Defendant's consultant psychiatrist was of the opinion that Brenda suffered from a depressive illness but not from post traumatic stress disorder as he did not think that Brenda's psychiatric disorder had been caused by what she witnessed on the day of her mother's accident. He considered that the cause was the inevitable stress of Brenda caring for her mother within her own home for long periods of time. He was of the view that Brenda had developed depression prior to her mother's injury that was greatly aggravated by her mother's accident but that had Brenda not seen her mother at the hospital that day, the subsequent course of events would have been much the same.

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Settlement

Brenda claimed for past loss of earnings from the date of her mother's accident until her discharge from hospital. The loss thereafter was to form part of the care claim in relation to her mother's clinical negligence action. Damages were sought in relation to the cost of counselling sessions that Brenda attended since her mother's accident, including mileage incurred as a result of attending such sessions. Both parties' experts considered that Brenda would recover from her psychiatric injuries within a year and any residual symptoms would not be grossly disabling. No serious long term or delayed psychiatric illness of the incident was predicted.

Brenda's case was settled by a payment of compensation of £18,000.

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