The Gazette 1996

GAZETTE

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER '996

L A W B R I E F

1 • • HI I

A.

PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

by Dr. Eamonn G. Hall Introduction

disorder or illness which can arise after someone has experienced a traumatic event. It is not simple anxiety or depression although some characteristics are shared. It is a very specific set of symptoms and if these are not present the person cannot be said to be suffering from the disorder. Dr. Muss stated that the essential feature of this disorder is the development of characteristic symptoms following a psychologically distressing event that is outside the range of usual human experience - outside the range of such common experiences as simple bereavement, chronic illness, business losses and marital conflict. The cause of the stress producing the symptom will be markedly distressing to almost anyone and is usually experienced with intense fear, terror and helplessness. Often a characteristic of the disorder is a great mental depression and disquietude and a disturbed state of mind. Recent Developments The most recent case in Ireland on post- traumatic stress disorder is Kelly -v- Hennessy [ 1986] ILRM 321. It is appropriate to refer to the facts of the case. In April 1987 Mr. Kelly, the husband of Mrs. Anne Kelly, (the plaintiff) and two daughters had been travelling by car from Ashbourne, Co. Meath to collect Mrs. Kelly's niece from Dublin Airport. Mrs. Kelly remained at home. A car driven by the defendant, Mr. Fergus Hennessy, collided with the car in which Mrs. Kelly's husband and two daughters were travelling. Mrs. Kelly received a telephone call from her niece to tell her that her husband and daughters had been seriously injured in the car crash. On receipt of the telephone call, Mrs. Anne Kelly immediately went into shock and began vomiting. She was taken to hospital where she saw her husband and daughters, all of whom

In their seminal book, Irish Law of Torts , Professor Bryan McMahon and Professor William Binchy devote a chapter to nervous shock. In that chapter, the authors examined the circumstances in which compensation may be claimed for "negligently inflicted disturbance of mental tranquillity". This medical condition is now known as "nervous shock" and perhaps more appropriately as post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The courts in Ireland have become increasingly willing to afford compensation for negligently afflicted post- traumatic stress disorder. Irish law has been ahead of most common law jurisdictions. Professors McMahon and Binchy in their book state that over the past century, the courts have become increasingly willing to afford compensation for negligently afflicted post-traumatic stress disorder. The authors state that Irish law has been ahead of most common law jurisdictions. The learned authors refer to the case of Byrne -v- Southern and Western Railway Company (Unreported, Court of Appeal, February 1884). Mr. Byrne, the plaintiff, was a superintendent at the telegraph office at the Limerick Junction railway station. One day, as a consequence of the railway points having been negligently left open, a train crashed into the wall of the telegraph office. When Mr. Byrne heard the noise and saw the wall falling, he "sustained a nervous shock which

resulted in certain injuries to his health". Mr. Byrne received the sum of £325 in damages which Professors McMahon and Binchy correctly consider was a very substantial sum at that time. The Court of Appeal refused to set aside the award and the verdict. This note provides an overview on the law relating to post-traumatic stress disorder and notes recent developments. The Symptoms It is of note that the railways gave rise to the early reported cases of trauma. Professor John Erichsen, a professor of surgery, who wrote On Railway and Other Injuries of the Nervous System in 1866 (London: Walton and Maberly) was one of the early writers on traumatic injuries and contributed indirectly to the development of jurisprudence in this area. Dr. David Muss in The Trauma Trap (Doubleday, 1991) noted that post- traumatic stress disorder is just that - a

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