In late October, Matthew Perry died of an apparent drowning at age 54. Six weeks later, the LA County Medial Examiner’s Office has revealed his full toxicology results, and drowning is now listed as a contributing factor in the Friends star’s fate. Additionally, the report lists “the acute effects of ketamine” as the primary cause along other contributing factors in his accidental death.
Matthew Perry died from “the acute effects of ketamine,” according to the toxicology report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office. Contributing factors in the “Friends” actor’s death included drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine (used to treat opioid use disorder). The manner of death was ruled an accident.
TMZ follows up with additional context, which suggests that the ketamine dosage that caused Perry’s death was self-administered and outside of the therapeutic dosage that he had received days before he passed out in a hot tub at his home:
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office just released the toxicology report, concluding Perry had taken ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety a week-and-a-half before his death. The ketamine in his system at the time of his death, however, “could not be from that infusion therapy, since ketamine’s half-life is 3 to 4 hours, or less.”
Following Perry’s death, even the most casual members of the Friends audience felt gutted, and his co-stars — Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, and Matt LeBlanc — have all paid tribute amid their ongoing grief.