Regulations and Government
EASA in Consultations over Medical Privacy Policy
Agency chief Ky laments lack of common legislation in Europe
EASA executive director Patrick Ky (Photo: Thierry Dubois)
EASA executive director Patrick Ky (Photo: Thierry Dubois)

The European Aviation Safety Agency has begun to consider new recommendations related to medical privacy in response to the suicide flight of Germanwings pilot Andreas Lubitz, EASA chief Patrick Ky revealed during a recent press breakfast organized in Paris by French aviation journalists association AJPAE. Ky revealed the agency has consulted with psychiatrists as part of a study aimed at establishing advice modeled after existing laws in the UK that oblige doctors to reveal a patient’s medical conditions to authorities if they might result in harm to others. Immediately after the crash, EASA recommended that two people always sit in the cockpit during commercial flights. However, Ky expressed reservations about its the recommendation's effectiveness absent wider reaching initiatives. “It is very hard to know if two persons in the cockpit would have help avoid the crash,” he conceded.