According to an autopsy performed on Friday, Friends star Matthew Perry drowned in his hot tub after losing consciousness due to the “acute effects” of the potent tranquilizer ketamine, among other complications.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s report was released about seven weeks after Perry, 54, who had openly admitted to decades of drug and alcohol problems, was discovered face down and motionless in his Los Angeles home’s jacuzzi by his live-in assistant.
According to the study, toxicology tests revealed that Perry had significant levels of ketamine, a short-acting anesthetic with hallucinogenic qualities, in his body. These levels are generally linked with general anesthesia used in well controlled surgical procedures.
The autopsy concluded, “It is determined that Matthew Perry died as a result of acute ketamine effects.”
His death was considered an accident and was attributed to coronary artery disease, the effects of the opioid-addiction medication buprenorphine, which was also found in his system, and drowning.
According to the investigation, Perry’s body contained high doses of ketamine, which would have caused him to go unconscious before his face submerged under the hot tub’s water by suppressing his respiration and overstimulating his pulse rate.
According to the study, “the precise mode of ingestion in Mr. Perry’s case is unknown,” and traces of the substance were found in his stomach. It stated that there were no recent needle marks on his body.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration describes ketamine as a “dissociative anesthetic hallucinogen” because it causes a person to feel detached from pain, anxiety, and their surroundings. It can be injected, dissolved in liquids, snorted as a powder, or smoked.
According to autopsy results, Perry might have been using ketamine for self-medication in between under a doctor’s supervision.
Perry had been receiving ketamine infusion therapy for anxiety and despair, according to witness interviews included in the report. However, the study stated that given his last known treatment was a week and a half before to his death, the ketamine discovered in his system by the medical examiners would have been added since then.
The results of the autopsy suggest that Perry may have been taking ketamine for self-medication under a doctor’s supervision in the meantime.
According to witness testimonies in the report, Perry was undergoing ketamine infusion therapy for anxiety and dejection. The ketamine that the medical examiners found in his system would have been added since then, according to the report, since his last known dosage was a week and a half prior to his death.
According to the autopsy results, Perry might have been using ketamine for self-medication while being closely monitored by a physician.
The report’s witness statements state that Perry was receiving ketamine infusion treatment for depression and anxiety. According to the article, since his last known dosage was a week and a half before his death, the ketamine that the medical examiners discovered in his system would have been added since then.
At the scene of his death, investigators did not discover any alcohol, illegal substances, or drug paraphernalia. Perry’s living room included an inhaler and many vaping items with nicotine. Triospatide injectables, an anti-diabetic drug, and nicotine lollipops were kept in the refrigerator.
According to the article, the actor had stopped smoking two weeks prior, was getting testosterone shots, and had been prescribed the hormone regulator Tamoxifen, which is often taken to prevent breast cancer, in order to help him lose weight.
The investigation stated that while some prescription drugs were identified in Perry’s body at non-toxic amounts, no evidence of alcohol, cocaine, heroin, or other illegal drugs was discovered.
Perry had played pickleball hours before his death, as has subsequently been widely publicized. According to the article, a witness who knew the actor told detectives he appeared to be in “good spirits” when she last chatted with him a few days prior
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