Though the report noted Matthew Perry had been undergoing ketamine infusion therapy for helping with depression, anxiety, PTSD, drug and alcohol problems, chronic pain and more, the medical examiner determined the ketamine in his system at the time of his death wasn’t from the treatment. His last session had been a week and a half before he died.
The Los Angeles County medical examiner explained on December 15 that Matthew died under “the acute effects of Ketamine,” used to treat depression and anxiety. However, other factors triggered this tragedy such as drowning, coronary artery disease, and the effects of buprenorphine, which is used to treat opioid use disorder.
The amounts of the substance found in his system was similar to those administered to a hospital patient under general anesthetic.
“The ketamine in his system at death could not be from that infusion therapy since ketamine’s half-life is three to four hours or less,” the autopsy concluded.
Matthew Perry dealt with drug abuse problems and was not sober, as he stated in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry. Despite multiple attempts at rehabilitation, millions of dollars in expensive treatment, and a team of nurses at home, the Friend star met young women on dating apps and had them deliver drugs, often Oxycontin, to his mansion.
What is Ketamine Therapy?
According to the Pacific Neuroscience Institute, Ketamine therapy is a treatment approach that uses low doses of ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic medication, to manage various mental health conditions, such as treatment-resistant depression, anxiety disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Ketamine is approved for use at high doses as an anesthetic in the operating room. Although not FDA-approved, lower dose “sub-anesthetic” ketamine injections are used “off-label” to treat depression, pain, and other mental health/substance use disorders.
