Doctor Sentenced over Matthew Perry’s Death

Salvador Plasencia, the doctor who supplied the anesthetic drug ketamine to Matthew Perry in the weeks before his overdose death, has been sentenced to 30 months in prison.

U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett delivered the sentence on Wednesday after Plasencia pleaded guilty to charges related to supplying Perry with 20 vials of ketamine over two weeks in the period directly leading up to the Friends star’s fatal overdose, at times traveling to his house to inject him. 

The former doctor will also serve two years of supervised release and pay a fine of $5,600.

In October 2023, Perry was discovered unresponsive and floating face down in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home.

Plasencia apologized to Perry’s family before the sentence was read in a Los Angeles federal court.

He admitted he had violated his oath to care for the late actor. “I failed Mr. Perry. I failed his family. I should have protected him," Plasencia said.

The former doctor pleaded guilty in July to four counts of ketamine distribution, though he did not provide the fatal dose.

Prosecutors had asked for three years in prison, while the defense asked that he be sentenced to probation.

Before issuing her sentence, Judge Garnett rejected a defense argument that Plasencia initially intended to treat Perry for depression.

“I don’t find that rings true,” she said, saying the doctor had sought “to exploit Mr. Perry’s addiction for your own profit.”

She noted that Plasencia had obtained $55,000 during his brief relationship with Perry, and said that if the case involved any other controlled substance, “we’d be looking at a lot more time.”

Karen Goldstein, Plasencia’s defense lawyer, acknowledged that his decisions were “clouded by money.”

“It really was a perfect storm of bad decision-making,” she said.

Prosecutor Ian Yanniello, meanwhile, pushed back on attempts to minimize Plasencia’s conduct. “He wasn’t a negligent medical provider,” she said. “He was a drug dealer in a white coat.”

In text messages, Plasencia had discussed Perry’s request for ketamine, saying “I wonder how much this moron will pay.”

Perry’s mother, Suzanne Morrison, addressed the doctor directly during her victim impact statement.

“This is my boy,” she said. “I know how addicted he was. He survived it all… To be called a ‘moron’ — there’s nothing moronic about that man… This was a bad thing you did.”

Madeline Morrison, Perry’s half-sister, also spoke about the family’s grief, saying that Plasencia had exploited Perry’s greatest fear and biggest weakness.

“Celebrities are not just plastic dolls you can take advantage of,” she said. “They’re people.”

Plasencia, who owned an urgent care clinic in Malibu, California, is one of five defendants to plead guilty in connection to Perry’s death, which was found to be caused by the acute effects of ketamine, and the first to be sentenced. 

Jasveen Sangha, also known as the “Ketamine Queen” who supplied Perry with the dose that led to his tragic death, is scheduled to be sentenced in February.