A specialist familiar with ketamine is providing insights into Matthew Perry cause of death asserting that the actor deliberately overdosed.
At the time of his death, Matthew Perry had a significant quantity of ketamine in his system, equivalent to the amount typically administered for general anesthesia.
Toxicology tests revealed that Perry’s ketamine levels were measured at 3540 ng/ml. For reference, the report, acquired by The Blast, notes that levels of general anesthesia during monitored surgical-anesthesiology care typically fall within the range of 1000-6000 ng/ml.
Matthew Perry cause of death
In essence, Perry had a substantial amount of the drug in his system, sufficient to induce unconsciousness.
Dr. Philip Wolfson, the author of “The Ketamine Papers: Science, Therapy, and Transformation,” suggests that Perry consumed a large quantity of ketamine before entering the hot tub. According to Wolfson, “He really did himself in. He must have taken a large amount. You don’t do this and go swimming or go into a pool of any sort.”
Despite Perry undergoing ketamine therapy, his last documented treatment occurred one week prior to his death. This rules out therapy as the source of the ketamine found in his system, as the drug’s half-life is only three to four hours.
Ketamine, approved for use at high doses as an anesthetic in medical settings since the 1970s, can also be misused as a recreational drug.
Dr. Angelique Campen, an emergency room physician, warns that recreational use of ketamine can be hazardous. She speculates that Perry may have entered a trance state in the hot tub, leading to accidental drowning, as ketamine, while not causing respiratory failure, can prevent individuals from waking up if submerged.
Although lower doses of ketamine are not FDA-approved, some individuals use them “off-label” for conditions like depression and pain. Notable personalities, such as Elon Musk, Sharon Osbourne, and Lamar Odom, have engaged in ketamine therapy to address mental health and addiction struggles.
In October, emergency services responded to a 911 call at Perry’s home, reporting a potential water rescue. They discovered the actor face down and unresponsive in the heated section of his pool. The autopsy report, obtained by The Blast, disclosed prescription anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications in Perry’s home, but no loose pills or prescriptions were found in the pool area.
The official cause of Perry’s death is attributed to the acute effects of ketamine, with contributing factors including drowning, coronary artery disease, and the effects of buprenorphine (used for opioid use disorder treatment). The incident has been ruled as an accidental death.
