Doctor who gave actor Matthew Perry ketamine sentenced to 30 months in jail

A doctor who supplied ketamine to Friends actor Matthew Perry in the months leading up to his fatal overdose was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in prison in a Los Angeles court.

Salvador Plasencia, 44, is the first of five defendants charged in Perry's October 2023 death to be sentenced.

The doctor pleaded guilty in June to four counts of distributing ketamine, an anesthetic that is used in a controlled manner in treatments for depression and post-traumatic stress, but is also abused and sold illicitly.

A statement filed with the court

The mother and stepfather of the actor, who struggled for years with addiction problems, addressed the doctor through a statement consigned to court, AFP picked up.

"Matthew's recovery depended on you saying NO," wrote Suzanne Perry and Keith Morrison, according to reporters in court.

"Your motives? We can't imagine them. A doctor who devotes his life to helping others?" they said.

"He's not a villain"

Plasencia's defense noted after the hearing that the doctor regretted his actions. "He is not a villain. He is someone who made serious mistakes in his decisions about the unauthorized use of ketamine," attorneys Karen Goldstein and Debra White in a statement.

"He will forever remember the mistakes he made during the 13 days he treated Perry," they added. Plasencia surrendered his professional license and was remanded into custody.

The doctor did not provide the actor with the fatal dose of ketamine, but supplied the drug to Perry in the weeks before he was found dead in a hot tub at his Los Angeles residence.