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Abstract
What we call today damage in the form of psychiatric injury has been in the past referred to as “nervous shock”. In this article the concept of nervous shock in medicine is examined. This term was originally used by surgeons and physicians. It was introduced into legal usage from medicine, and, although this term is not used in clinical practice today, it continues to be utilised by lawyers who have assigned to it a specific juridical meaning. The evolution of liability for negligently caused psychiatric injury is traced by examining three seminal Australian cases.