More Reports That Co-Pilot's Illness Was 'Psychosomatic'

Many of the reports remain unverified or from anonymous sources, but they continue to pile up: The New York Times yesterday reported that Germanwings pilot Andreas Lubitz sought treatment for an unspecified vision problem that one unnamed investigation official told the Times might have been psychosomatic. A report today from Germany's Die Welt newspaper keeps the "psychosomatic" narrative running: NBC News reports the newspaper says police uncovered "clear" evidence of a "psychosomatic illness." That would be a physical illness "thought to have mental reasons such as stress and anxiety," explains Bloomberg.

CNN also picks up the Die Welt report, noting it quoted an investigator as saying that police recovered drugs prescribed to treat that illness; that investigator defined Lubitz as suffering from "severe subjective burnout syndrome" and severe depression. As for that vision problem, NBC News reports that the Rheinische Post indicates Lubitz "may have been facing retinal detachment." That's unconfirmed, but more may soon be known: The University Clinic in Düsseldorf, where Lubitz apparently saw an eye specialist, on Friday said it was handing his records to prosecutors. The Wall Street Journal notes Lubitz's first appointment there was in February; his last was March 10. (More Germanwings crash stories.)