Medical Negligence claims: Psychiatric injury
In many cases of clinical negligence, the injuries are not always visible to the eye or detectable by clinical scans and tests.
After the shock, trauma and pain of physical injury or disease as a result of clinical negligence, it is not uncommon for patients to develop psychiatric injuries, such as depression, anxiety or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Such conditions can often be debilitating, in some cases more so than the physical injury or disease itself. The effects can be life changing and the severity of psychiatric injuries should not be underestimated.
At Tees Law, our Medical Negligence team often deal with cases involving individuals who have suffered some degree of psychiatric harm as a result of negligent treatment. We have experience of dealing successfully with both primary and secondary victim claims. Contact us today to help you take the next steps.
It is of great importance to identify and recognise where psychiatric injury may have occurred because, if left untreated, the effects of such an injury can be significant. It is important that the sufferer receives a correct diagnosis and that appropriate treatment is sought. Often the appropriate treatment, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, is more readily available in the private sector and is often expensive, putting it beyond the reach of many people that would otherwise benefit from treatment. However, if a person who has suffered a physical injury has also suffered a psychiatric injury, appropriate compensation can be sought to compensate them for their pain and suffering and, perhaps more importantly, to ensure that any future necessary treatment can be paid for.
In many cases, victims of clinical negligence do not necessarily realise that they have suffered a psychiatric injury. It is, therefore, important that your clinical negligence solicitor is alive to the possibility of psychiatric injury and that, in cases where it may be relevant, they deal with the issue with sensitivity and professionalism.
One might assume that psychiatric injury claims can only be made by those individuals who have suffered physical harm. This is not the case. The law does allow for psychiatric injury claims to be made by ‘secondary victims’, i.e. those that may have witnessed a shocking and traumatic event involving a loved one (primary victim), but have not themselves suffered physical harm. This particular area of law is one that is often misunderstood because the law only allows claims of this sort in very limited circumstances In order to qualify for such a claim, a Claimant must satisfy a very specific set of factors. The case law is too extensive to set out in detail in this article, but the key requirements may be summarised as follows:
- The secondary victim must have sufficient ‘ties of love and affection’ with the primary victim (in practice this usually means close family members).
- The secondary victim must have been within sufficient proximity of the ‘shocking event’ in terms of both space and time.
- The injury occurring to the primary victim must have been sufficiently ‘sudden’ and ‘shocking’.
These are difficult claims but it is important that your solicitor is alive to the possibility that such a claim may be available to you.
In both of these types of case it is important that the individual concerned is assessed by an expert to ensure that an accurate diagnosis is made, the long term prognosis is considered and a suitable means of treatment is recommended. In most cases this will involve the client meeting with a Consultant Psychiatrist in a quiet and professional setting, where a full assessment can take place.
Tees is here to help
We have many specialist lawyers who are based in:
Cambridgeshire: Cambridge
Essex: Brentwood, Chelmsford, and Saffron Walden
Hertfordshire: Bishop's Stortford and Royston
But we can help you wherever you are in England and Wales.
Chat to the Author, Janine Collier
Executive Partner, Medical Negligence, Cambridge office
Meet Janine
- Areas of expertise
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- Testimonials
Legal 500 UK 2025
East Anglia
Janine Collier - one of the outstanding practitioners in the country. Not only excellent on all her own cases but ensures the standards of the whole team are extremely high.
Legal 500 UK 2025
East Anglia
Janine Collier is an excellent solicitor and runs a very dedicated and efficient team.
Legal 500 UK 2025
East Anglia
Janine Collier is exceptional for her detailed factual and legal analysis of claims, the high standard of her instructions, and her sensitive client management. Her energy is remarkable.
Legal 500 UK 2025
East Anglia
Janine Collier is an extremely able and committed lawyer; apart from her skill as a litigator and negotiator, Janine is known for going the extra mile for her clients. Janine's tenacity is evident from the excellent case outcomes she achieves; even in the most complex of cases, she is unafraid to litigate if the right settlement cannot be achieved, but her negotiating skills are such that she sees the benefits of settlement where the award is at an appropriate level as this provides certainty that does not follow litigation.
Legal 500 UK 2025
East Anglia
'Janine Collier inspired confidence and put us at ease. Janine always showed great empathy, and we felt we weren't treated simply as a case but as individuals. She was in regular contact by phone/email - even out of hours when required. She built a great team of experts for our case - and regularly questioned and challenged them. She also found us a good case manager, who found us experts who could really help us - and she negotiated an advance on our settlement to fund these.
Anonymous
Cambridge
Janine was extremely compassionate and caring about my experiences. Her words have remained dear to my heart and kept me strong throughout this process. She is a remarkable lady who truly wanted the best outcome for me. Anytime I contacted her, she always explained everything thoroughly and in detail. My queries were always resolved in her presence. She has a very good heart.
Legal 500 UK 2024
East Anglia
Janine Collier is a stand-out. She would be coveted by all top firms. An excellent leader, an excellent litigator.
Legal 500 UK 2024
East Anglia
Janine Collier has been brilliant throughout our whole process, and I have felt extremely supported and able to trust that she has my son’s best interests in mind with everything she does.
Legal 500 UK 2024
East Anglia
Janine Collier is hugely able and extremely hard-working – a perfect leader of the team as well as a fantastic litigator.
Legal 500 UK 2023
'Janine Collier has an amazing reputation and quite rightly, she very quickly spotted something that wasn’t the main focus of the case but is able to zoom out and look at everything that’s going on and spot things others wouldn’t spot. You can tell she really cares and is a very dedicated person who just wants to help. The team are all caring and efficient'
A
Cambridge
'A heartfelt thank you for all you have done in preparation for and during the settlement meeting, as well as for your unfailing support along the way, in and out of hours. It is undoubtedly due to your high professionalism if the outcome today has exceeded all expectations; it will be a huge help for us going forward and we will be forever grateful'
Chambers & Partners 2022
Cambridge
'Janine Collier is renowned for her handling of delay in diagnosis, obstetric injury and surgical negligence claims. She is at the top of her game and knows clinical negligence inside and out'
Susan Hickman
Cambridge
'We consider ourselves fortunate to have been recommended to Tees by the solicitor we initially approached. We did not realise it until the case was well established that the level of professional care we were receiving was exceptional and that the experience of the individuals and the contacts they have to assist in a very complex case was the best available. We are grateful that we received a satisfactory settlement as a result of their efforts under difficult circumstances and dealing with defendants that were obstructive and disorganised. By far the greatest benefit for us however is the fact that the victim, with assistance from highly skilled experts that we would not have known about otherwise, learned to walk short distances when all other medical opinion did not consider this possible. This was their greatest achievement which is well beyond the service we expected'
The Fisher family
Janine works with empathy, understanding and compassion. She handled our mother's inquest with skill and sensitivity and guided us expertly. She kept us informed continually via email and multiple meetings and phone calls. Janine completely took the sting and the stress out of our case.