Matthew Perry Had Sufficient Amounts of Ketamine to Anaesthetise Him for Hospital Operation

Trigger Warning: This article contains themes of death that some readers may find distressing.

The Los Angeles County medical examiner said in an autopsy report that Matthew Perry passed away from the 'acute effects of ketamine.' Perry was receiving ketamine infusion therapy, an experimental treatment for anxiety and depression, according to those close to him who spoke with investigators. Nonetheless, the medical examiner said that Perry's previous medication, which was administered one and a half weeks before, could not have raised the ketamine levels in his body, which were within the range required for general anesthesia during surgery.

As reported by The Mirror, the L.A. County Medical Examiner's report stated that he tested positive for 3,540 ng/ml of ketamine; doses vary from 1,000 to 6,000 when given as sedatives before surgery. Although the actor had previously used narcotics, the report said that he had been 'reportedly clean for 19 months.'

Perry had played pickleball earlier in the day, and when his housekeeper returned after doing errands, she discovered him face down in the swimming pool. Perry, according to the assistant, had not reported any health issues, had not been ill, and had not shown any signs of recent drug or alcohol use. 'High levels' of ketamine were detected in his postmortem blood tests, which may have increased his heart rate and blood pressure while also impairing his need to breathe.

According to the autopsy, buprenorphine, which is often used to treat opiate addiction and was detected in Perry's blood at therapeutic amounts, may have had a role in his respiratory issue. The postmortem report said that it would have been dangerous to combine the central nervous system depressant with ketamine because of the additive respiratory effects that occur when ketamine levels are high.

Strong anesthetic ketamine has been authorized by US health authorities for use during surgery, but within the last ten years, it has also been investigated as a therapy for several psychiatric and difficult-to-treat disorders, such as chronic pain, anxiety, and depression.

Perry was 24 years old when he was cast in the lead role of Chandler. His alcoholism had just begun when he was cast, but it was only the start of his problems. He revealed in his memoir, "If you gauge my weight from season to season — when I’m carrying weight, it’s alcohol; when I am skinny, it’s pills. When I have a goatee, it’s lots of pills." He admitted to People in an interview that at first, he was in control of his addiction.

He added, "I could handle it, kind of. But by the time I was 34, I was really entrenched in a lot of trouble. But there were years that I was sober during that time. Season 9 was the year that I was sober the whole way through. And guess which season I got nominated for best actor? I was like, 'That should tell me something.'" By the time his autobiography was released, Perry had endured 14 operations and 15 rounds of rehab for his addiction.

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Editor's Note: This article was originally published on 12.18.23. It has since been updated.