Posted on 04/16/2002 7:22:05 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Mother of Tampa suicide pilot blaming acne drug for death
TAMPA, Fla. - (AP) -- The mother of a 15-year-old boy who crashed a stolen plane into a Tampa high-rise is blaming the acne drug Accutane for her son's dramatic suicide and says she is suing the drug maker.
In an interview aired Tuesday by NBC's ''Today'' show, Julie Bishop said her son Charles showed no other signs of depression before the Jan. 5 crash and the only possible explanation for his suicide is Accutane. The boy left a suicide note praising Osama bin Laden and the Sept. 11 attackers.
The drug has been linked to, but never proven to have caused suicides among its users.
''This child was a happy, well-balanced, forward-thinking child who had great deal to live for,'' Bishop said in the first interview she has granted since his suicide flight. ``This was psychotic and the only conclusion we have been able to draw is the Accutane poisoned him.''
A spokeswoman for drug maker Hoffman-La Roche had no immediate comment when reached early Tuesday. She said someone would respond later in the day.
The company in the past has denied that the drug is dangerous and pointed to statistics showing sufferers of severe acne and teen-agers -- the main users of the drug -- generally have higher suicide rates than the regular population.
Charles Bishop was an honor student studying to be a pilot when he stole the single-engine Cessna from a Clearwater flight school minutes before a scheduled lesson. Minutes later, he crashed in the Bank of America building in downtown Tampa.
Documents released by both the Tampa Police and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have shed no light on what might have prompted Bishop's suicide. While law enforcement described him as a loner, Bishop's teachers and family say he was a bright, patriotic boy whose actions belied his goals of becoming an Air Force pilot.
''This wasn't a Columbine kid,'' Julie Bishop said in the interview. ``... He was determined to make the world a better place.''
Charles Bishop had been using Accutane at least since April 2001. His mother signed a consent form warning patients to alert their doctors if they began feeling depressed or suicidal, but she said there was never any signs of trouble in her son.
An autopsy found no trace of Accutane in Bishop's blood, but attorneys for the family say that's because the drug is actually stored in the brain.
Julie Bishop did not disclose to the dermatologist, as recommended, her own suicide attempt years before her son was born. She and the boy's father forged a suicide pact when they were teen-agers, but the pact wasn't carried through.
Julie Bishop said in the interview that the plot was brought on by drug and alcohol abuse, not mental illness. She said her son, who had never had much contact with his father, did not know of the pact.
Owl_Eagle
”Guns Before Butter.”
Another mentally unstable, greedy person probably hoping to profit from her sons' death. Well, if I were on the jury I probably would find her the cause.
He didn't build up to that moment. He made a conscious decision as this statement clearly shows.
ROFLOL, I certainly hope not. I was on this stuff for a 6 months as a teenager. All that happened to me was that my acne cleared up... oh and I got burnt by the sun more easily.
What ever happened to personal responsibility?
I think it was something like Bishira.
One thing that most people don't know is that Accutance was actually designed for people who have *cystic* acne. In worst case scenarios, a person's whole body is covered in large, painful cysts that regularly bleed and leak pus. This is very painful, both physically, and psychologically.
I speak from experience, as a person who has the disease, and has taken 4 full legnth courses of Accutane since 1985. And I can say for sure that the drug definitely made me *less* depressed.
There are some busybodies who want to ban the drug because of the alleged link to depression, and other people who want to ban it because it causes birth defects in babies born to women who take it while pregnant. When women of childbearing age take the drug, they have to sign a consent form, get several pregnancy tests, and use two methods of birth control. But the busybodies are hard at work, trying to make other peoples' decisions, and that's why they want to ban the drug.
These busybodies don't understand the idea of cost/benefit analysis. And they don't understand that life involves tradeoffs. They want to legislate their vision of a "perfect" world. These "anointed" people don't care about the real world damage that they are inflicting on real world people. Their only real concern is to feed their own feelings of smugness and moral superiority.
FMCDH!
Kamikaze kid pilot commits acne-induced suicide?
What was important to the both of them, was the pimples begone. Now this is a very convenient fall guy for her delusional deceased child.
TOTALLY incorrect.
The boy's GRANDFATHER on his father's side was an Arab who moved to the Boston area the first part of this century, last name Bishara, of course. Everyone else in the kid's family tree is Italian or Sicilian. His father doesn't even know Arabic.
Almost all the Arab immigration to the Boston area in the early 20th century was comprised of Syrian and Lebanese CHRISTIANS, so, it is a reasonable assumption his grandfather was a Christian.
So, while it is true the kid was 1/4 Arab and the name was changed from Bishara to Bishop, we're talking 3rd generation in this country, no evidence at all that any of his relatives were Muslims, etc.
#2: I would venture a guess (and anyone who has been on this medication before, correct me) that suffering from acne can be a huge blow to self-esteem. And, instead of having to take this medication all the time, there is an "easier" way out. I'm not saying that is 100% the reason why he did it, but I HIGHLY doubt its due to a single medication.
Her son suffered from normal teenage angst and insecurity, plus he was denied a father (a huge loss). He obviously formed an very negative opinion about the US - regardless of how 'patriotic' his mother claims he was. Blaming the acne medication is extremely convenient; it means that she won't have to share blame for what her son did and she can continue to pretend that he was a perfect kid...
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