Matthew Perry death case: Doctor pleads guilty of conspiring to distribute ketamine

In a big turn of event, a doctor who is one of the five people charged in the death of Matthew Perry has now pleaded guilty. Dr Mark Chavez changed his plea to guilty in a Los Angeles court to a charge of conspiring to distribute the surgical anaesthetic ketamine. Ketamine was found in Perry’s body in large amounts and was suspected to have led to his untimely death.

 The doctor operated a ketamine clinic and sold ketamine lozenges to Dr Salvador Plasencia, who supplied them to Matthew Perry.  Chavez is one of five people charged in Matthew Perry’s death. The Friends star, Matthew Perry was found dead in his backyard jacuzzi in southern California in October 2023. A post-mortem examination found a high concentration of the drug ketamine in his blood. It was the “acute effects” of ketamine that eventually killed him.

For those unversed, ketamine is used as a treatment for depression, anxiety and pain.

Meanwhile, Dr Mark Chavez, in his plea agreement, has finally admitted that he obtained ketamine from both his former clinic and a wholesale distributor through a fraudulent prescription.

Matthew Perry worked with assistant Kenneth Iwamasa who procured these drugs for him. Kenneth got in touch with two doctors to buy more than $50,000 (£38,000) of ketamine in the weeks before his death.

According to the indictment, the two medical doctors exchanged texts discussing how much they could charge Perry for vials of the drug, with one message reading: “I wonder how much this moron will pay.”

Now that Dr Mark has pleaded guilty, there are chances he will be off on a much lesser penalty. He could get a lesser charge for his cooperation in the Matthew Perry death investigation. He could, however, still face up to 10 years in prison. (Agencies)

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