On October 28, the lifeless body of actor Matthew Perry, remembered for playing the character Chandler Bing in the comedy series Friends, was found. A little more than three months after the incident, the Los Angeles police have ended the investigation into what was behind Perry’s death, considering the case closed.
This was confirmed by representatives of the public body to People, in addition to the fact that on the official website of the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, it can be seen that the case has been closed, highlighting “Acute effects of ketamine” as the main cause of death. . The document also mentions in the “significant conditions” section, drowning, coronary artery disease and effects of buprenorphine.
In mid-December 2023, it was revealed that Perry had overdosed on ketamine, which he used therapeutically to control his depression. The revelation shocked many people close to the actor, since over the last few years, he has strived to leave behind his dependence on various substances and begin a healthier life with the intention of returning to acting.
However, it was his ex-girlfriend Kayti Edwards who denied Matthew’s “new life”, ensuring that the actor was never able to completely separate himself from drugs. Edwards also considered that Perry truly believed that ketamine infusions were a genuine way to stay sober, but this was far from the truth. Dr. Bankole Johnson, one of the world‘s leading neuroscientists and doctors, even mentioned to Page Six that if ketamine alone was already dangerous, combining it with an opioid as strong as buprenorphine was practically a death sentence. death
“It would be questionable medicine to provide ketamine to someone who also uses buprenorphine, a real recipe for disaster,” he explained.
For his part, Edwards reiterated that Perry’s behavior weeks before his death was sufficient proof that he was still dependent on all types of substances.
“I wasn’t there so I don’t know exactly what happened, but I know Matthew as a person and as a friend and I know the patterns that led to this. I could see it from afar, he didn’t seem to be well during the last two weeks of his life. The sober people who knew him had never been with him when he was doing drugs, so they didn’t know the signs.”
Raffi Djabourian, the forensic doctor who was in charge of analyzing Perry’s body, explained as follows what would have happened to Perry’s body moments before he lost his life.
“With the high levels of ketamine found in postmortem blood samples, the main lethal effects would be both cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression.”
One point that has generated controversy is that, according to forensic reports, the last ketamine infusion that Perry received was a week and a half before his death. This substance disappears from the body hours after consumption, so Matthew would have obtained the ketamine from another source the same day he was found drowned in his jacuzzi. After Perry’s cause of death was revealed, Edwards called for an investigation into the doctors who administered the ketamine, but now with the case officially closed, these details of Matthew’s death will remain unresolved.