ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the criteria for establishing the existence of a duty of care in relation to nervous shock. It explores the restrictions on the scope of the duty and identifies the criteria for imposing liability for pure economic loss. The chapter explains the reasons for the reluctance for imposing liability for pure economic loss and illustrates the criteria for imposing liability for economic loss caused by a negligent misstatement. The parents then claimed that the original suspicion was unfounded and negligent and sought damages for psychiatric injury. The parents of a child born with serious injuries following medical negligence and then dying two days later successfully claimed for nervous shock. A woman recovered damages for nervous shock when doctors had negligently caused damage to her new-born baby. The chapter examines the limited circumstances in which the law is prepared to impose liability for a failure to act and analyses each of the novel duty situations.
