As searchers in France continue to recover and identify the remains of 150 people killed aboard Germanwings flight 9525, prosecutors confirmed the co-pilot Andreas Lubitz had serious mental health issues before getting his pilot's licence.

"He had been in treatment of a psychotherapist because of what is documented as being suicidal," said Prosecutors’ Office Deputy Spokesman Christoph Kumba in Cologne, Germany.

The airline Lubitz worked for, Lufthansa, said information about Lubitz's health is confidential.

University of Manitoba ethics professor Arthur Schafer said the code of confidentiality between doctors and patients is a basic principle of health care. But Schafer said there are exceptions and in some cases doctors in Canada have a legal obligation to speak up.

"If there is such an imminent risk doctors and psychiatrists are able to report it to authorities," said Schafer.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba said doctors here are aware of that obligation. But because of the circumstances surrounding the Germanwings crash, Registrar Dr. Anna Ziomek plans to send out a reminder in an upcoming newsletter about a doctor’s duty to report if there's a threat to the safety of others.

Tara Brousseau Snider, the executive director of The Mood Disorders Association of Manitoba, said mental health workers also have a duty to warn but there's no obligation to reveal to an employer why a patient is away from work.

"An individual can take a leave but there's not the full obligation to have to reveal,” said Brousseau Snider. “So actually what we would rather see is people get care, that they're able to look after themselves and then return to work."

If a doctor withholds information Dr. Ziomek said they could be held responsible themselves if someone else is harmed.

Schafer said the problem with the policy is that it can be very difficult for doctors to predict future behavior of their patients and that reporting too often could actually discourage patients from seeking medical or psychiatric treatment at all.

So far, investigators in the Germanwings crash have found no evidence that Lubitz told anyone what he was going to do.