After watching the program Matt and his mother had went to the Dermatologist to discuss the story and their concerns about Accutane. The Dermatologist said that there had been a couple of unsubstantiated cases of depression and suicide, but that there was no scientific proof that Accutane could cause it and that Matt "didn't fit the profile anyway."
Matt's parents told the committee how they later found out that Accutane was supposed to be reserved for the most severe cases of nodular, cystic acne and provided the panel with a school picture of their son taken about 2 weeks before he started on Accutane that showed he did not have a severe acne problem.
"After talking to all of Matt's friends, family, teachers, and co-workers," his father told the committee, "we confirmed what we had already known, Matthew was not depressed!"
"There was no depression. There was no warning. There was nothing for us to look for. There was no reason for his death, other than Accutane."
Michael and Caroline Bencz also testified at the hearing about how their son, James, committed suicide without any sign that he was depressed or troubled. They told the panel that at the time of his death, he had everything to live for stating:
"James was not the person anyone would expect to commit suicide. He had friends and family. He had financial and personal success. He had plans for the future - both near and long term.
"The week James died, he was to leave on a skiing trip to Austria with a few of his firefighter buddies. James had plans for his future, and death was not in that plan."
"He was witty, humorous, talented, a great sportsman, intelligent, and highly competitive," his parent said, "but most of all, above all that, a wonderful human being.
In late 2001, they told the panel, they learned that a doctor prescribed Accutane for James. These parents also provided the committee with a picture of their to show that he never had a severe acne problem. All they could figure out was that maybe the skin diving suit he wore may have irritated his skin on his neck and back.
The last day they heard from James, on February 23, 2002, he called to say he did not feel well, that he had a headache. His last words to his parents were: "I don't feel too good, I'm going to try to get some sleep."
Over the next few days they did not hear from James which was very unusual. It was not like him, his parents said, to disappear for days at a time without letting anyone know where he was.
When he did not turn up, a massive man hunt was conducted, and he was eventually found on March 4, 2002, at the bottom of a lake, with a 44 pound barbell strapped to his body. A lake where James and his sister used to sit as children skipping rocks.
He died, his father told the committee, "under circumstances so bizarre for someone like James - a diver, a firefighter, and an athlete - with so much to live for, and so many future plans."
"We wish every minute of every day that we had never heard of that drug," they told the committee. "It took our son, our life as we know it, and left us with huge craters in our hearts that can never be filled in again."
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