When you think that this pilot had something going on that caused two of his doctors to say that he wasn't in any condition to pilot the plane, then I think the employer should have been notified immediately.

All those lives would have been saved.

Certain criteria would need to be set up, to trigger such a disclosure to the employer, and of course it should be done discreetly for the sake of the young man. There's no need to tell everybody or to shout it from the rooftops.

In most states doctors are required to notify the DMV if they have a patient who has on going seizures, they also have to provide medical information for the patient when they deem it safe for the patient to resume driving.

It isn't much of a stretch from there to require that the employer of someone who has a job involving public safety be notified when a doctor feels the person is not able to preform the job safely.

mandatory psych testing for pilots and mandatory reporting by doctors of pilots felt to be a risk to the public. The idea of pilots self-reporting when it could cost them their jobs is unrealistic, as Lubitz has proved.

Increasingly we are losing our privacy and the doctor/patient one is one of the last ones. What to do?

to encourage more people to seek treatment.

cameras in the cockpit, still may not have prevented this.

I still want to wait for more facts. Depression and suicidal thoughts alone, may not be the cause.

Anger, is what most mass murderers have in common, whether they are depressed, or not. Anger, and lack of empathy.

But yes, if a doctor is treating a suicidal patient, it should be his duty to inform people when the public is at risk.

The doctor has a duty if there is a specific threat, e. g. "I am scheduled to work tomorrow and I feel like I could crash the plane." "I'm feeling depressed lately," is not going to cut it to allow the doctor to warn.

Frankly, at this point it hasn't even been disclosed why he had a note saying he couldn't work. For all we know he could have had an eye problem. This whole story doesn't add up at this point based on what's been disclosed.

Was he thinking of not flying and then changed his mind?

We all "trust" that those strangers coming the opposite direction with a closure speed of up to a 100 miles per hour want to live as much as we do. We all hope so anyway since there may not be enough time to get out of their way if they want to end it all and take you with them.

I agree, life is full of risk. And many steps have been taken to reduce risk but we'll never eliminate all of them. The human factor is just too unpredictable.

You have no assurance of tomorrow. Get used to it. It has been the human condition for millennia.

We don't know why wasn't supposed to fly. Depressed people rarely commit suicide by mass murder. I'd rather wait for more information before over reacting to a very strange incident but how convenient the airline has someone to blame that absolves them of any responsibility so early in the investigation.

and says they murdered someone a day ago and the body is buried at some specific place, I can not tell the authorities anything. But if someone says they are going to murder their wife tomorrow I may, but I am not required to, tell the authorities. I believe medical professionals should have the same responsibilities.