Five people have been charged in the death of Matthew Perry, the beloved star of the TV comedy “Friends,” for allegedly conspiring to distribute ketamine to the actor, The New York Times reports.
The accused include two doctors, Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez, and Perry’s personal assistant Kenneth Iawamusa, whom prosecutors allege worked together to falsely prescribe, sell, and administer the anesthetic drug to the TV star, leading to his death.
Their communications behind Perry’s back, revealed in court documents, paint a picture of their willingness to prey on Perry, and the appallingly flippant attitude the doctors took towards prescribing a potent drug to a man whose lifelong struggle with addiction and depression is well-known to the public.
“I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia told Chavez in text messages cited in the indictment, as quoted by the NYT. “Let’s find out.”
The actor paid Plasencia at least $55,000 over a month, according to court documents.
Perry died in October 2023, at the age of 54 after being found face-down in his hot tub. An autopsy attributed his cause of death to “the acute effects of ketamine.” Drowning, the effects of medications to treat opioid abuse, as well as coronary heart disease were cited as contributing factors.
On the day of his death, Perry had his assistant, Iawamusa, inject him with three doses of ketamine. In the days prior, he was receiving six to eight shots per day, according to the NYT.
These were administered illegally, prosecutors say. Perry had undergone above-board ketamine therapy in the past, but after a local clinic refused to increase his dosage, he asked Iawamusa to find other, illegal means of getting the drug, which is how came to know Plasencia and Chavez. The two doctors supplied Perry by using a fraudulent prescription, prosecutors allege.
As they continued to pump him full of the stuff, there were multiple red flags that Perry’s dependence on the drug was dangerous. Iawamusa had found him unconscious at home at least twice, he told law enforcement. He also said that on one occasion, Perry froze up and was unable to speak or move after Plasencia injected him with a “large dose,” suffering a spike in blood pressure.
Ketamine is a powerful — and controversial — substance. In recent years, it’s seen a surge in popularity for effectively treating substance addictions, chronic pain, and even depression, albeit in much lower doses.
But it also has a reputation as a party drug, due to some of its hallucinogenic effects. As it gets prescribed for mental ailments more often, the risks associated with it being misused or abused can’t be overlooked.
In other words, there’s a reason that the Food and Drug Administration advises that ketamine patients should be closely monitored and that the drug should only be administered with the direct supervision of doctors. But the ketamine that led to Perry’s death wasn’t from his official therapy sessions — it was the illegally obtained stuff that was often being injected by his assistant, not a doctor.
Perry’s death highlights some of the dangers of the drug. To a greater extent, however, it exposes the slimy network of people trying to exploit celebrities battling lifelong afflictions.
“These defendants took advantage of Mr. Perry’s addiction issues to enrich themselves,” Martin Estrada, attorney for the Central District of California, said at a news conference Thursday, per the NYT. “They knew what they were doing was wrong… But they did it anyway. In the end, these defendants were more interested in profiting off Mr. Perry than caring for his well-being.”
