Matthew Perry's tragic death is the subject of a new documentary called Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy, released on Feb 25, on the streaming service Peacock. It reveals a disturbing trail of events that led to the Friends actor's death at age 54 in October 2023.
The autopsy report listed the cause of Perry’s death as “acute effects of ketamine” and "accidental drowning" as the manner of death.
US Attorney Martin Estrada, who supervised the investigation, has revealed that the actor received a total of 27 ketamine shots that are said to have culminated in his death.
In the documentary, Estrada stressed the need to prosecute the individuals who supplied the drugs to Perry, adding that it was the greed of a licensed physician named Dr Salvador Plasencia that led to everything that followed, including the involvement of a drug dealer named Jasveen Sangha, also known as “The Ketamine Queen", and three others.
“These defendants cared more about profiting off of Mr. Perry than caring for his well-being,” said Estrada at the time of the two individuals' indictment. “Drug dealers selling dangerous substances are gambling with other people’s lives over greed. This case, along with our many other prosecutions of drug dealers who cause death, sends a clear message that we will hold drug dealers accountable for the deaths they cause.”
He also brought up the authorities' perspective shift in situations like this. “In the past, we used to call these things overdose deaths and do more blaming of the victim. 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,” he said.
Along with Dr. Plasencia and Jasveen Sangha, a total of five individuals were arrested in connection with Perry's death. The other three are Erik Fleming, Kenneth Iwamasa, and Dr. Mark Chavez — all charged with conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
As per the details listed on the website of the US Department of Justice, Iwamasa pleaded guilty to "distribute ketamine causing death, admitted to repeatedly injecting Perry with ketamine without medical training, including performing multiple injections" on Perry on the day of his death.
At the time of announcing charges against them, Drug Enforcement Administrator Anne Milgram said, "We allege each of the defendants played a key role in his death by falsely prescribing, selling, or injecting the ketamine that caused Matthew Perry’s tragic death. Matthew Perry’s journey began with unscrupulous doctors who abused their position of trust because they saw him as a payday, to street dealers who gave him ketamine in unmarked vials. Every day, the DEA works tirelessly with our federal, state, and local partners to protect the public and to hold accountable those that distribute deadly and dangerous drugs – whether they are local drug traffickers or doctors who violate their sworn oath to care for patients.”
The release of the documentary is pertinent as it highlights the negative effects of addiction and substance abuse, which Perry had admitted to in the past.
