“For him to have ketamine at the level that he had is actually a little confusing to a lot of my colleagues,” Dr. Michael Bottros, who oversees ketamine infusions at the University of Southern California says.
News that actor Matthew Perry’s death was caused by a lethal dose of ketamine is raising questions about the hallucinogen.
It was reported Perry had received “ketamine infusion therapy” a week and a half before his death and would not still have been in his system. An autopsy found Perry had taken an acute amount equivalent to general anesthesia at the time of his death.
Ketamine is a fast-acting drug that is growing in popularity. It is used to treat depression when other therapies do not work, but only in a monitored setting under medical supervision.
“For him to have ketamine at the level that he had is actually a little confusing to a lot of my colleagues,” Dr. Michael Bottros, who oversees ketamine infusions at the University of Southern California tells Inside Edition.
Perry drowned in his hot tub in October. Perry's autopsy found he had “trace amounts of [ketamine] in his stomach.” The drug can be prescribed orally.
“Ketamine causes what we call a dissociative state and so you may not necessarily have the awareness with the consciousness to do the things that we normally do in certain situations like getting up out of a body of water if you fall under,” Bottros says.
Bottros questions whether the 216-pound Perry’s use of the diabetes drug Mounjaro, which celebrities have used for weight loss, also played a role in the actor's death.
“He was also taking the weight loss medication Mounjaro and that can slow down the emptying of your stomach,” Bottros says.
Despite Perry’s death, the doctor says the therapy can be life-saving.
Patients undergoing ketamine infusion therapy at a clinic in Beverly Hills posted their experiences on YouTube, describing the treatment as "amazing." One patient said she felt her anxiety decrease.
In his memoir. Perry wrote about receiving ketamine infusions during the pandemic. “Taking K was like being hit in the head with a giant happy shovel but the hangover was rough and outweighed the shovel,” he wrote. “Ketamine was not for me.”
