The Latest: Germany unwilling to loosen medical privacy laws
Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz had been treated by several doctors in the weeks before the March 2015 crash that killed 150 people, including one who referred him to a psychiatric clinic fearing a psychotic episode, according to a report released Sunday by France's BEA air accident investigation authority.
Germanwings parent Lufthansa is pledging to support the implementation of any new safety measures prompted by French investigators' probe of last year's plane crash.
France's BEA accident investigation agency on Sunday recommended that aviation agencies draw up new rules requiring medical workers to warn authorities when a pilot's mental health could threaten public safety.
The U.S. National Library of Medicine notes on its entry for Citalopram that children and young adults who take the drug can become suicidal "especially at the beginning of your treatment and any time that your dose is increased or decreased."
French aviation investigators say one factor leading to the Germanwings plane crash might have been a "lack of clear guidelines in German regulations on when a threat to public safety outweighs" patient privacy.
French air accident investigators say a doctor referred Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz to a psychiatric clinic two weeks before he crashed a plane into the French Alps, killing 150 people.
The BEA investigation agency, in releasing a report Sunday on the March 2015 crash, said multiple doctors who treated Lubitz in the weeks before the crash did not inform authorities of concerns about his mental health.
Because Lubitz didn't inform anyone of his doctors' warnings, the BEA said "no action could have been taken by the authorities or his employer to prevent him from flying."
French air accident investigators are recommending that world aviation bodies define new rules to require that medical professionals warn authorities when a pilot's mental health could threaten public safety.
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