Doctor Unravels Ketamine's Role in Matthew Perry's Death Following Autopsy Report
Matthew Perry
In the wake of Matthew Perry's autopsy report finally revealing the Friends actor's cause of death, a doctor is weighing in on the role of ketamine in his untimely passing.
Parade recently spoke with Dr. Peter Grinspoon, M.D., a primary care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, instructor at Harvard Medical School and author of the memoir Free Refills: A Doctor Confronts His Addiction.
In an email interview, Grinspoon—who did not treat Perry or examine his body after his death—offered his insight about the results of Perry's autopsy report, which revealed the actor died from "the acute effects of ketamine."
Ketamine is a drug used for anesthesia and treatment-resistant depression, and it has a number of medical benefits. However, it's also "widely used recreationally and in the 'gray market,'" Grinspoon noted.
"Mr. Perry had a ketamine infusion a week and a half before he died, but ketamine has a relatively short half-life (a few hours), so there wouldn't have been enough ketamine in his system to cause symptoms," the physician explained. "It appears that he was supplementing this ketamine treatment on the side."
But what are the side effects of ketamine, exactly?
Grinspoon told Parade: "Ketamine can cause severe dissociation (temporary break from reality) and euphoria. People experience the 'K-hole' with a high enough dose. You can be very out of it."
In Perry's autopsy report, other contributing factors to his death included: "drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine (used to treat opioid use disorder)."
Grinspoon described buprenorphine as an "opioid that is phenomenally effective in helping people stay in recovery from opioid use disorder." However, it's still an opioid—meaning "it can contribute to respiratory depression, which is how people die, for example, from fentanyl overdoses."
When mixed with ketamine, buprenorphine can contribute to respiratory depression and "just being so high, dissociated, sedated and out of it that you shouldn't be alone, especially around water," Grinspoon noted.
Taking into account the ketamine and buprenorphine in Perry's system—combined with his medical conditions, COPD and coronary artery disease—Grinspoon explained: "It's not hard to imagine his falling in the water, or trying to swim/enjoy the hot tub, in a highly impaired condition (similar to as if someone were really drunk), while alone—it is a perfect storm!"
