The death of "Friends" star Matthew Perry and the arrests it prompted this week have shone a spotlight on the toxic relationships some Hollywood celebrities have with the doctors assigned to manage their addictions.
The actor, who played Chandler in the cult series, had revealed his long battle with drug addiction. He died of a ketamine overdose in his jacuzzi in October 2023.
This anesthetic, sometimes diverted for stimulating or euphoric purposes, was taken by the actor in a supervised manner as part of therapy sessions for depression.
But when he was refused an increase in dosage, the comedian fell back into addiction in the fall of 2023, according to the federal prosecutor's office, and turned to dealers and unscrupulous doctors.
His death involves two "unscrupulous" doctors, said Anne Milgram of the DEA, the federal anti-drug agency. She denounced the "exploitation" of the actor by Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez, who "violated the oath" of Hippocrates.
Shocking, the case nevertheless has an air of déjà vu: Michael Jackson's doctor was found guilty in 2011 of involuntary manslaughter for having administered to the former king of pop a lethal dose of a powerful surgical anesthetic.
- " Trap " -
Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, and Prince also died after consuming legal substances obtained from health professionals.
"Rules are blown up with celebrities, and it leads to tragedies all the time," Harry Nelson, a Los Angeles health lawyer, told AFP. "It's crazy!"
The lure of gain plays a big part.
In the case of Matthew Perry, Dr. Plasencia obtained his ketamine from his colleague Chavez, according to the indictment. The vials, worth $12, were resold to the star for up to $2,000.
"I wonder how much this moron is going to pay," wrote Dr. Plasencia in a text message unearthed by the investigation in September 2023.
But the situation is sometimes more delicate, according to Mr. Nelson.
Celebrities really need to protect their privacy, the lawyer reminds us. Going to a doctor to get a prescription, then to a pharmacy to pick up medication is unthinkable when you're hounded by paparazzi on a daily basis.
Some doctors may then get carried away by the "glamour and excitement" of a relationship with a celebrity patient, who may be very demanding. They sometimes give in to their demands in order to "stay in their good graces," even "if it goes against" their medical judgment.
"But it's a trap," said Nelson, who has been involved in a dozen tragic cases involving celebrities. "It's a trap for both the celebrity patient and the doctor."
– “Party drug” –
With its dissociative and hallucinatory effects, ketamine was all the rage among California's elite as a "party drug" more than 20 years ago.
In the mid-2000s, "a handful of doctors in Los Angeles were facilitating these parties, where everyone was getting ketamine infusions at a celebrity's house in Malibu on the beach," Nelson says.
The medical association cracked down on these doctors, revoking the licenses of several of them.
Today, ketamine is increasingly being used legally to treat depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. California is home to private clinics with extravagant prices and high-profile clients, the lawyer said.
Dr. Chavez, the ketamine supplier implicated in the Matthew Perry case, ran such a clinic in the past.
Although legal, this substance can in principle only be administered under the supervision of a doctor, due to the risk of side effects: loss of consciousness, respiratory problems, etc.
That didn't stop Dr. Plasencia from handing over vials of ketamine directly to Matthew Perry's personal assistant, according to the investigation. He even met him on the street in the middle of the night to exchange vials for $6,000 in cash.
"For someone to be allowed to take this home and bathe in a hot tub is criminal and irresponsible," Nelson said. "The doctors who did this undoubtedly felt they could take some liberties because they were dealing with a famous person."
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