The second doctor involved in the overdose death of “Friends” star Matthew Perry escapes prison

The second of the doctors who supplied “Friends” star Matthew Perry with ketamine in the months before his fatal overdose was sentenced Tuesday by a California court to house arrest, writes AFP.

Dr Mark Chavez, 55, pleaded guilty to supplying the drug to a conspiracy charge. The famous actor was buying this drug for up to $2,000 per bottle in the weeks before his death, which occurred in 2023, in the jacuzzi of his Los Angeles home.

Chavez, who ran a ketamine infusion clinic near San Diego, was sentenced to eight months of house arrest. He must also perform 300 hours of community service.

The now-disgraced doctor wrote a fraudulent prescription for ketamine – an anesthetic that is also used in the treatment of depression but can be abused as a party drug – which he then supplied to his colleague, doctor Salvador Plasencia.

Plasencia, who wrote in text messages to Chavez, “I wonder how much this idiot is going to pay,” was sentenced this month to two and a half years in prison.

Both doctors have surrendered their medical licenses.

Three other people who also admitted to taking part in supplying drugs to the actor are due to be sentenced in the coming months.

Among them is Jasveen Sangha, the alleged 'ketamine queen' who supplied the drug to luxury clients and celebrities and faces up to 65 years in prison.

Perry's personal assistant and another man pleaded guilty in August to charges of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.

The actor's long battle with substance addiction was well-documented, but his death at the age of 54 shocked “Friends” fans around the world.

A criminal investigation was launched shortly after doctors discovered at the autopsy that the actor had a high level of ketamine in his body.

Matthew Perry was taking ketamine as part of a medically supervised treatment for depression.

But prosecutors say that before his death he became addicted to the substance, which also has psychedelic properties and is a popular party drug.

First airing between 1994 and 2004, the comedy “Friends” followed the story of six New Yorkers and the details of their adult lives, dating and careers.

The series attracted a large audience and turned unknown actors into megastars.

Perry's role as “Chandler,” a sarcastic, immature adult, brought him fabulous wealth, but hid a dark struggle with addiction to painkillers and alcohol.

In 2018, Matthew Perry suffered a ruptured colon caused by drug use and underwent multiple surgeries.

In his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry described going through dozens of rehabs.

“I've been mostly sober since 2001,” he wrote, “except for about sixty or seventy little incidents.”