A doctor who admitted to illegally giving the late “Friends” star Matthew Perry ketamine is no longer allowed to practice medicine. This was decided by a court in the USA.
A US court has banned one of the accused in the death of Matthew Perry from practicing medicine. The doctor, who pleaded guilty to being partly responsible for the death of the “Friends” star as part of an agreement with the judiciary, is no longer allowed to practice, the court decided on Friday. 54-year-old Mark Chavez is one of five accused who are accused of illegally supplying Perry with ketamine.
Matthew Perry: Accused doctor banned from practicing his profession
Chavez had agreed to plead guilty to involvement in a conspiracy to distribute ketamine. He was released after paying bail of $50,000 (around 45,000 euros). Two other defendants, the doctor Salvador Plasencia and Jasveen Sangha, known in Hollywood circles as the “Ketamine Queen,” had also agreed to plead guilty. They deny other charges in other cases. The trials against Plasencia and Sangha are scheduled to begin in October.
The US Attorney’s Office accuses the five defendants of exploiting Perry’s addiction problems in order to “enrich themselves”. The investigations have “uncovered the existence of a large and secret criminal network responsible for distributing large quantities of ketamine to Perry and others,” said federal prosecutor Martin Estrada.
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Perry was found dead in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home at the end of October last year. According to the medical examiner’s report from December, he died from the “acute effects of ketamine.” The drug is used by doctors as an anesthetic and also to treat depression. Ketamine is also sold on the black market for drug users because of its narcotic and hallucinogenic effects.
Perry had taken ketamine under supervision as part of a treatment for depression. However, he had not taken ketamine under such supervision in the days before his death.
In the 1990s, Perry became famous for his role as the sarcastic jokester Chandler Bing in the globally popular television series “Friends.” In his autobiography, published last year, Perry reported that he had struggled with drug and alcohol addiction for years. He wrote that he had spent more than nine million dollars on 65 stays in rehab clinics.
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Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
