In nervous shock claims, a distinction must be drawn between compensable psychiatric illness and non-compensable grief and bereavement, with a deduction made for the latter. Section 35A(1)(c) of the Wrongs Act 1936 (SA) limits the persons who may recover for nervous shock in motor accident cases but does not create a standalone cause of action; common law requirements must be satisfied. Becoming pregnant to treat psychiatric illness caused by nervous shock may constitute reasonable mitigation, and loss of earnings during child-rearing is recoverable. The question whether communication of information alone (without sensory perception of the accident or aftermath) can found a nervous shock claim remains open in South Australia, though two of three judges indicated it should.
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