A new documentary claims that Friends star Matthew Perry was given 27 shots of ketamine in the days leading up to his death.
The actor was found unresponsive in a hot tub in his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023, with his death at the age of 54 being attributed to the acute effects of ketamine, with drowning and coronary artery disease listed as other factors.
Now, the documentary Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy, which explores the circumstances of his death and premiered in the US on Peacock on Tuesday (February 25), has included alarming comments from the attorney Martin Estrada, who oversaw the case up until January 2024.
He stated that in his three final days, Perry was administered with 27 doses of ketamine outside of that which he had been prescribed as therapy for anxiety and depression. Estrada added that the people responsible for the large number of doses “should have known much better”.
Five people were charged in connection with Perry’s death in August 2024, including doctors Mark Chavez and Salvador Plasencia, the actor’s assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, former rehab program director Erik Fleming, and the so-called “ketamine queen” Jasveen Sangha.
Estrada claims that Plasencia was “very clear” in text messages about Perry, saying “he saw this as an opportunity to make a lot of money in a short amount of time, and he allegedly did just that”.
“In the past, we used to call these things overdose deaths and do more blaming of the victim,” Estrada added. “We don’t do that anymore. We blame the drug dealers, the drug sellers, for taking advantage of those addiction issues to cause death or serious injury, and that’s why we bring these cases. The big takeaway from this case is that when people involved in reckless activity, whether that be drug dealing or other activity, cause the death of others, there needs to be accountability.”
Chavez, Fleming and Iwamasa have all pleaded guilty to drug charges and are awaiting sentencing. Both Sangha and Plasencia have pleaded not guilty, with a trial set for March 4, 2025.
The one-hour documentary is currently not available to watch in the UK.
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