---
title: "Check the Victorian gateway for pure mental harm arising from shock"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/check-the-witness-or-close-relationship-gateway-for-pure-mental-harm-fro/victoria"
type: "task_jurisdiction_version"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "A21-FM20261023-8-VIC"
practice_area: "Personal Injury & Compensation (workers compensation, CTP/TAC, medical negligence)"
tier: "yellow"
lawyer_review: "required"
jurisdictions: ["VIC"]
last_reviewed: "2026-10-25"
---

# Check the Victorian gateway for pure mental harm arising from shock

> In a firm-controlled tool, row whether the claimant was at the scene and the relationship the documents state, against section 73 of the Wrongs Act 1958. Leave both findings, and any psychiatric-illness finding, blank.

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/check-the-witness-or-close-relationship-gateway-for-pure-mental-harm-fro/victoria  
Last reviewed: 2026-10-25

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Practice area | [Personal Injury & Compensation (workers compensation, CTP/TAC, medical negligence)](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation.md) |
| Human involvement | Yellow: Lawyer and AI draft together |
| How AI is used | In a firm-controlled tool, row whether the claimant was at the scene and the relationship the documents state, against section 73 of the Wrongs Act 1958. Leave both findings, and any psychiatric-illness finding, blank. |
| What the lawyer must review | Decide the gateway. The tool does not label a relationship as close. Do not define close relationship. The opened section does not. Leave recognised psychiatric illness as a separate question. |
| Written for | Victoria |
| Applies to | [Check the witness or close-relationship gateway for pure mental harm from shock](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/check-the-witness-or-close-relationship-gateway-for-pure-mental-harm-fro.md) |

## Checking plan

**Victorian scene or close relationship**

The tool rows presence and relationship against section 73. The lawyer decides the gateway. Close relationship is not defined in the opened section.

- What the AI does: In a firm-controlled tool, row whether the claimant was at the scene and the relationship the documents state, against section 73 of the Wrongs Act 1958. Leave both findings, and any psychiatric-illness finding, blank.
- What the lawyer does: Make the legal assessment, check the source material and authorise the output for its intended use.
- Who reviews: Lawyer competent in this practice area
- Basis: Checked against the linked sources on 23 October 2026. Confirm the current instrument before reliance.

## Checks the lawyer makes

1. Use this table only for pure mental harm from shock connected with another person killed, injured or put in danger.
2. Section 67 defines mental harm as psychological or psychiatric injury.
3. Row section 73(3): no damages if recovery by or through the victim would be prevented.
4. Do not answer whether the harm is a recognised psychiatric illness.

## Notes

- Section 73 of the Wrongs Act 1958 applies to liability for pure mental harm arising wholly or partly from mental or nervous shock in connection with another person being killed, injured or put in danger. The plaintiff is not entitled to recover damages unless the plaintiff witnessed, at the scene, the victim being killed, injured or put in danger, or the plaintiff is or was in a close relationship with the victim. The opened section does not define close relationship. Section 73(3) says no damages are to be awarded if recovery by or through the victim would be prevented by the Act or any other law. Section 67 defines mental harm as psychological or psychiatric injury, and pure mental harm as mental harm other than consequential mental harm.
- Family, wage and medical records stay in a firm-controlled tool. ASCR r 9 and APP 11 apply. A breach may be notifiable under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

## Practical guide

Jurisdiction: Victoria: Wrongs Act 1958 ss 67 and 73

**Deliverable**: A gateway table with scene, relationship and two blank findings.

**Inputs**

- Account of the event selected by the lawyer
- Medical material selected by the lawyer
- The opened mental-harm section

**Example**: Illustrative example: A sibling heard of the death by telephone and was not at the scene. The tool rows those facts. It does not decide whether a sibling is a close relationship, because section 73 does not define the term.

**Stop and escalate when**

- A relationship is marked close without a finding.
- The illness question is answered in this table.

Checked 2026-10-23.

## Sources

- [Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) s 73](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/wa1958111/s73.html) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) s 67](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/wa1958111/s67.html) (checked 2026-10-23)

## Forms and precedents for this task

| Form or precedent | Kind | AI level | Summary |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Psychiatrist's instructions on a recognised psychiatric illness](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/personal-injury-and-compensation/psychiatrist-recognised-psychiatric-illness.md) | Letter | Yellow | Letter asking a psychiatrist whether there is a recognised psychiatric illness for a mental harm claim, without asking the psychiatrist to apply the statutory tests. |

Signed-in accounts can read the full text of each one.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*