Matthew Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine, and the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s finding that his heart contained 3,271 ng/ml of the drug gave the case a grim precision. He was 54 when he was found unresponsive in a hot tub on Oct. 28, 2023, and pronounced dead at the scene.
The detail matters because Perry was not getting ketamine from one hidden source. Doctors supplied it despite knowing he allegedly suffered adverse effects from the drug, then kept the supply moving through his live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa. Dr. Mark Chavez and Dr. Salvador Plasencia were the initial source of ketamine for Perry, and both initially injected the actor themselves. In one instance, after Plasencia injected Perry, his blood pressure spiked and he was suddenly unable to move. Former federal agent Bill Bodner said the doctors should have realized that giving the drug outside a hospital could be very dangerous.
That chain continued even after the last injections from Chavez and Plasencia on Oct. 12, 2023. The doctors showed Iwamasa how to inject Perry, a step addiction specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky called “mind-boggling,” and Perry later turned with Iwamasa to the black market for more ketamine. On the day Perry died, Iwamasa injected him three times with ketamine supplied by Jasveen Sangha, also known as the Ketamine Queen.
What followed was a criminal investigation into whether there was a crime at the root of Perry’s death, and it widened fast. The case led to arrests of Chavez, Plasencia, Iwamasa, Erik Fleming and Sangha. Fleming, an acquaintance of Perry’s, distributed 50 vials of ketamine to him from his source. In August 2024, Iwamasa pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death, while Fleming pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. Plasencia later pleaded guilty to four counts of ketamine distribution and was sentenced in December to 30 months in federal prison, two years of supervised release, a $5,600 fine and a $400 special assessment. Chavez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and was sentenced in December to eight months of home confinement, three years of probation and community service. Sangha pleaded guilty to five federal charges in September 2025, and her sentencing is set for Wednesday, when the last major question in the case becomes how the court weighs the doctor-led supply chain that helped put Perry in lethal reach of the drug.
Perry had spoken openly about substance use and addiction throughout his life, including in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. The documentary Doctor Feelgoods on Hollywood Demons premieres Monday, May 11 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ID, returning the case to public view just as the legal fallout reaches its final stage.
