This is so terribly sad.

Absent - not melodramatic or provocative at all unlike some of the posts on here which show a complete lack of understanding of concepts of mental illness, depression, responsibility,accountability etc. where is that bags when you need her to say we don't have the full facts yet? And even when we do, it may not be straightforward. The whole thing is so sad - being so hateful about the young man will not reduce that sadness.

I'm sorry. I've got to say it. I can't help myself. Gillybob is spelt with a 'G'.

Grannytwice. I've already fucking said there must have been another issue. Not depression alone.

Seems to me that there should be some obligation on the doctor to let the employer know too and not rely on the mentally ill person to pass on the sick note?
.....rather like the school that left it to the girls who went to Syria, to pass on the letters to their parents......

And neither of them did

Yes. I thought that AlieOxon.

Isn't that breaching medical confidentiality though?

Thanks GT for a voice of reason.

JBF... why are you such a potty-mouth?

Because I am an evil old cow. Why do you think?

Well, yes merlot. But with good cause? Wouldn't that exonerate the doctor?

Dreadful that he tore the sick notes up and carried on.

Just because some of us [me included] can't bring ourselves to understand/forgive this young man doesn't mean that we don't care/sympathise with people who do suffer from depression. But I just can't feel any forgiveness for the pain that this person has caused. If that makes me a horrible person then sobeit. I just can't comprehend anyone doing something so downright evil .

If a doctor has told someone NOT to drive, for instance, and the doctor subsequently becomes aware that the person is still driving, he then would write to the DVLA's medical officer and ask him/her to deal with this. In the case of a pilot, the doctor would have to write to the Aviation Authority, and not to the employer- unless s/he is aware the person will fly that day, in which case s/he may decide to take more direct action to save lives. I imagine the doctor had no idea that the pilot has torn up the note and gone to 'work'.

jingl, have some respect please- your swearing here is totally out of order.

*You see what I cannot get my head round is this....the co-pilot knew exactly what he had to do to ensure his suicide plan was carried out without interference from the captain. He planned this. Even if the plan was only thought out in the minutes before the captain left the cockpit.

Yes, people are saying that people with severe depression (if that was what he had) are incapable of functioning. Sorry, but it doesn't make sense*

He may well have decided to do it on the spur of the moment.

I started a thread to help with some understanding of how the depression worked in my case.
In my case, I might feel depressed from say when I woke up to noon. Then I may have felt not depressed form say noon to 6pm. And then depressed again after that.

It might have worked the same for the pilot. I dont know.
But he should have known though, that that was far too unstable a condition to fly a plane like that.

I think that what the doctor ends up saying, is going to be a big factor in all of this.

As I have said on the thread I started, for most of the 3 months that I had depression, there was no way I could fly a plane. I could barely manage to make dinner.

I suspect, it is like hilda says in her post. He may have been coming out of an episode. I didnt know that that is when people are more likely to commit suicide, but she syas she has worked for many years with people with mental health issues, so I am prepared to take her word for it.

But Alie- how would that really work in practice. Ill person doesn't go to doctor in case reported: Ill person goes to doctor and doctor covers her/ his back by reporting something minor to be on the safe side? The reality is that this situation is incredibly rare, that to prevent it happening again will be disproportionately difficult and would impact on thousands of people's lives for the worst . It just isn't that simple

Doctors have a Duty of Care......seems to have been neglected in this instance, it overrides patients confidentlity where safety to themselves or others is involved. They should inform the patient of that fact.
It's non-negotiable and construed as negligence in failure to do so-applies to nurses and other professions too as Code of Conduct.

granjura Do not tell me to have respect. I have every respect for those involved in this dreadful happening. But, just sometimes, not for some posts on these forums.

And we're not actually in church.

The pilot was given a sick note on the day he was due to fly, he tore it up, my theory is that the Doctor told him he was informing the relevant authority. Pilot was on his last flight... whichever way you looked at it because he would be grounded when he reached Dusseldorf.
Yes he is a mass murderer.
Yes I would know if any of DC had a mental illness and I would move heaven and earth to prevent them flying even to informing the authorities myself. Someone who is suicidal does not have the right to take others with him.

And loopy you know for a fact that that is the law in Germany? Bloody hell in the UK we can't even keep people who aren't fit to drive off the road as a previous thread demonstrated. And harigran - for goodness sake, spare is your theories - you haven't got a clue what happened .

He'd torn up 'several' sick notes....every news programme seems to be divulging even worse news than the previous ones.....

harrigran I think that is interesting. Yes, he could have seen the end of his career coming.

No GT, that's UK law but I can't imagine that there isn't similar rules elsewhere.

I really do find the knowledge of mental illness held by some on here very concerning. It's a bit like blaming a cancer patient for the cancerous growth. The behaviour is a consequence of the illness.

So Harrigran, you would know if any of your children had a mental illness? A bold statement, I think.