Matthew Perry’s Doctor Accused Of Killing The Friends Star With Ketamine To Plead Guilty

A doctor accused of supplying Matthew Perry with ketamine in the weeks before the actor’s fatal overdose is expected to plead guilty this Wednesday.

Dr. Salvador Plasencia will be the fourth of five people charged in Perry’s death to enter a guilty plea.

Originally set to go on trial in August, Plasencia agreed last month to plead guilty to four counts of ketamine distribution, according to court records filed in Los Angeles.

In exchange, prosecutors will drop three additional distribution charges and two counts of falsifying records.

Matthew Perry’s doctor to plead guilty

Plasencia’s attorneys have emphasised that he was not treating Perry at the time of his death and did not provide the specific ketamine responsible for Perry’s fatal overdose.

The charges Plasencia still faces carry a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. While there’s no guarantee of a reduced sentence, he may receive a lighter punishment. Plasencia has been out on bond since his arrest in August, and his sentencing date has not yet been set.

Jasveen Sangha, the last remaining defendant in the case, has not reached any agreement with prosecutors. Authorities allege Sangha is a drug dealer known as the “Ketamine Queen” who sold Perry the fatal dose. Her trial is scheduled for next month. She has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors and co-defendants say Plasencia illegally supplied Perry with significant amounts of ketamine about a month before his death on October 28, 2023. According to court documents, Plasencia called Perry a “moron” in a text message and discussed exploiting him for money.

Several other individuals—including Perry’s assistant, a friend, and another doctor—previously pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with authorities as part of the investigation into Plasencia and Sangha. None of them have been sentenced yet.

Perry was found dead by his assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa. The medical examiner determined that ketamine was the primary cause of death. The actor had been receiving ketamine through his regular physician as a legal, off-label treatment for depression, a practice that has become more common in recent years. When his doctor refused to provide more, Perry sought additional sources.

Plasencia admitted in his plea agreement that he was introduced to Perry by another patient and supplied the actor with 20 vials of ketamine totalling 100 milligrams, as well as ketamine lozenges and syringes. He also involved another physician, Mark Chavez, to help provide the drug.

Text messages cited in court filings show Plasencia referring to Perry disparagingly and discussing the possibility of making Perry a regular customer. Plasencia sold the drugs to Perry for $4,500 and asked Chavez to continue the supply.

Matthew Perry’s struggle with addiction was well known, dating back to his years starring as Chandler Bing on “Friends.” He battled substance abuse throughout his career, even as he became a household name alongside his co-stars during the show’s 10-year run on NBC.

What is the Ketamine drug? 

Ketamine’s story is pretty wild when you think about it. First cooked up back in the ’60s as an anaesthetic—yes, for humans and animals. Fast-forward a few decades, and now people are talking about it as both a legit breakthrough for treating tough depression and, let’s be real, a substance you might run into at a party.

In 2006, researchers at the National Institutes of Health found that a single IV dose of ketamine could lift severe depression in just a few hours. Honestly, that’s a game-changer. Antidepressants like Prozac or Zoloft usually make you wait weeks (if they even work at all), so this was huge.

Dr. Martin Teicher from Harvard told NPR in 2018 he thought this was one of the biggest psychiatric breakthroughs in ages. Not exactly small praise. And in 2019, the FDA gave a thumbs-up to Spravato, a nasal spray built on ketamine’s foundation. 

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