Just nine months after the murder of a Loop dermatologist, a man who identified himself on an Internet forum as Hans Peterson wrote that he believed there would be no justice in the legal system for the makers of Accutane, a drug he blamed for his loss of sexual enjoyment and persistent ringing in the ears.
“If you seek real justice, it will not come through the legal system — they know this, that’s why they continue to deceive and play ignorant,” the man wrote in July, just one of 64 posts he made on a Web site forum for people who took the controversial drug used to treat acne and say they suffered ill effects.
Although the posts never mention him by full name, the person identified as “hansp” on the Accutane/Roaccutane Action Group Forum is likely 29-year-old Hans Peterson, a suspect in the slaying of Dr. David Cornbleet last year, said Hans Peterson’s father, Thomas.
“That looks like my son’s writing,” said Thomas Peterson by telephone.
Cathy Spokes Perkins, a longtime moderator for the site who lives in the United Kingdom, said that a man who identified himself as Hans Peterson when he registered on the site logged on as hansp, and said he had been posting for years.
The details and dates of the man’s use and problems also mirror those alleged in Peterson’s life. Chicago police said they are aware of numerous blogs and “ancillary outlets” of information that are part of the ongoing Peterson investigation, but they would not comment further.
Peterson, a suspect in the Oct. 24 killing of Cornbleet, traveled to the French-controlled island of St. Martin, where he turned himself in to authorities Aug. 6. He remains on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, where authorities have so far refused to extradite him because he has both French and U.S. citizenship. Sources said he admitted killing Cornbleet to French police, and blamed Cornbleet for prescribing the drug to him.
The posts, which were first reported on a blog called The Outfit by Chicago writer Kevin Guilfoile, span five years and show a man distressed with what he said were side effects of taking Accutane twice in 2002. The posts also show Peterson’s anger toward the company and the doctor who prescribed the drug.
Lawsuits have alleged Accutane causes depression and has contributed to suicides, and warnings on the package describe the possibility of those side effects. But the maker of the drug, Roche, denies a link between the drug and violent side effects.
The first post by hansp was in June 2002, when the man described going to a dermatologist in April for mild, but persistent acne. He called the dermatologist an “unethical old man” and said the doctor told him it was a safe and popular drug and didn’t show him consent forms for the drug.
Peterson said he took it for two days and stopped, but felt a number of effects, including depression, the loss of sexual sensation and persistent ringing in the ears, a condition known as tinnitus. In numerous posts over the years, hansp described taking anti-depressants to help his symptoms, debated with posters on ways to get more attention about their concerns, argued with other posters who questioned whether his problems were psychological, and expressed resignation, saying he did not believe he could be cured.
In February 2003, he described difficulties he was having while at law school.
“Perhaps I can use whatever legal knowledge I gain to take my revenge … I have nothing else to live for,” he wrote.
Relatives of Cornbleet have said he was a caring and attentive doctor who worked long hours to meet his patients’ needs.
On Oct. 10, two weeks before Cornbleet was stabbed to death, hansp posted a message about an article on dopamine. He did not post again until Feb. 7.
“Doubt my problems and their connection to Accutane all you want – I know I wouldn’t believe a word of it if I had never taken the drug and someone told me the story I have told above,” he said.
On his final two posts in early July, about a month before Peterson turned himself in to French authorities, hansp said justice would not be found in the legal system.
“Would legal justice even be justice, anyway? The people who have profited from Roche’s deception won’t be personally brought to justice — they will be shielded from personal liability,” he wrote.
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