Prosecutor: Doctors Found Germanwings Pilot Unfit to Fly Before Crash
Several doctors who treated Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz before he intentionally crashed Flight 9525 in March felt he was unfit to fly but were unable to inform the airline of their findings because of German privacy laws, according to the French prosecutor leading the investigation into the tragedy.
The Associated Press reports that Marseille Prosecutor Brice Robin told reporters at a press conference today that Lubitz visited seven doctors in the weeks before the crash. Some of those doctors felt the pilot was unstable but “that information was not reported because of medical secrecy requirements,” according to Robin. The AP reports that “doctors risk prison if they disclose information about their patients to anyone unless there is evidence they intend to commit a serious crime or harm themselves.”
Robin also said Lubitz had seen 41 doctors over the past five years, and that he suffered from vision problems and feared blindness. From Sky News:
Lubitz saw things 30% darker than normal and also experienced bright flashes, reporters were told.
Doctors could not establish whether or not his condition was psychosomatic.
The 27-year-old pilot locked his captain out of the cockpit and intentionally crashed the Germanwings flight into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board.
