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Secondary Iatrogenic Harm: Claims for Psychiatric Damage Following a Death Caused by Medical Error
Author(s) -
Case Paula
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
the modern law review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1468-2230
pISSN - 0026-7961
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2230.2004.00500.x
Subject(s) - redress , harm , damages , compensation (psychology) , psychiatry , medicine , psychology , forensic engineering , law , social psychology , political science , engineering
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of claims for psychiatric damage following the death of a family member, where that death has been caused by medical error. 1 The relative's position is a subject of heightened interest since the exposure of the plight of the parents involved in the UK organ scandal, 2 and in the case of an iatrogenic death it is, of course, the family who are essentially the focus of the law's attempts to provide redress. Whilst the cases of deceased patients' relatives seeking damages for mental harm are inherently problematic in light of the restrictive secondary victim criteria applicable to psychiatric damage claims, a close look at the rules which permeate this area of compensation reveals that denying compensation to the relative suffering psychiatric harm is difficult to sustain. 3