An ex-girlfriend of Matthew Perry has called for his doctors to be investigated after a toxicology report revealed the actor took ketamine before his death.
Nearly two months ago, the beloved actor - widely recognized for his role as Chandler Bing in the popular sitcom Friends - tragically passed away at age 54 after he was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home by first responders.
At the time of his passing, law enforcement informed the Los Angeles Times that no drugs were discovered at the scene, and stated that no foul play was involved in the star's untimely passing.
However, this past week, Perry's official cause of death was confirmed, and it was disclosed in a toxicology report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office that he died from "the acute effects of ketamine".
Ketamine is used as an anesthetic by medical doctors and veterinarians and is also used illegally as a recreational drug.
The Alcohol and Drug Foundation (ADF) defined it as a "dissociative drug," which means it causes people to feel "separated or detached" from their bodies or physical surroundings.
The toxicology report revealed that the 17 Again actor had been undergoing ketamine infusion therapy before he died, reportedly for depression and anxiety. The exact method of intake has not been determined.
The report goes on to state: "At the high levels of ketamine found in his postmortem blood specimens, the main lethal effects would be from both cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression."
In addition to this, contributory factors in Perry's death also included drowning, coronary artery disease, and buprenorphine effects - which is an opioid medication used to treat pain and opioid addiction.
The manner of death was ruled an accident.
Even though ketamine works quickly, the effects wane after a few days or weeks.
This could most likely mean the drugs used for The Fool's Gold actor's therapy were unlikely the cause of his passing as the half-life of the drug in the system is around three to four hours or less, the report said.
Perry's ex-girlfriend Kayti Edwards - who worked as his assistant in 2011 at the height of his drug addiction - has said she had lots of unanswered questions about the toxicology report.
Edwards, who was in a relationship with the actor in 2006, said that she did not believe he bought ketamine from the street.
"I'm pretty sure that in Matthew's brain, ketamine infusions at a doctor's would count as still being sober," she told The US Sun. "In his brain, it's not the same as going on the street to buy crack or heroin."
The former assistant said she felt that the treatment would have pushed him back to doing drugs beyond the doctor's office, saying: "That probably was the stepping stone for him to go back to doing drugs."
"I think the doctors who had been working with Matthew should be investigated," she criticized. "I'm pretty sure he would have had an in with a doctor. It's very hard to get ketamine on the street but it is very easy for a doctor or a nurse to get."
The actor's final post on Instagram - which was uploaded just five days before he died - was an eerie picture of him in a hot tub with headphones on. He captioned the image: "Oh, so warm water swirling around makes you feel good? I'm Mattman."
The mom-of-four, who last spoke with the star last year after he published his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing, revealed that she was not surprised that he was found dead in the hot tub.
"I wasn't surprised when the medical examiner's report dropped," she told the publication. "I already knew what it was, so it wasn't shocking to me."
"I wasn't there so I don't know exactly what happened but I do know Matthew as a person and a friend and I know the patterns that led up to this. I could see it from a mile away, he didn't seem right during the last couple weeks of his life."
"The sober people who knew him have never hung out with him when he was getting high so they wouldn't know the signs," she added.