03 July 2015
Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust v Ronayne [2015] EWCA Civ 588, [2015] All ER (D) 195 (Jun)
The claimant’s wife had become seriously ill following a hysterectomy, in consequence of the admitted negligence of the defendant NHS Trust. In the county court, it was found that it had been the sight of the sudden shocking state and condition of his wife which had triggered the claimant’s mental illness, and he was awarded damages as a secondary victim of the trust’s admitted negligence. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in allowing an appeal by the trust, held that the circumstances with which the claimant had been confronted fell far short of those which had been recognised by the law as founding secondary victim liability.
