Doctor Charged In Connection With Matthew Perry’s Death Avoids Prison

The former doctor who pleaded guilty to one charge in connection with the overdose death of actor Matthew Perry has been sentenced to home detention, per multiple reports.

Mark Chavez pleaded guilty in 2024 to one count of conspiring to distribute ketamine to the “Friends” star. Chavez was sentenced to 8 months of home detention and 3 years of supervised release on Tuesday. He will also be required to complete 300 hours of community service, per ABC News. The sentence could have been up to 10 years in prison.

Chavez’s attorney Zach Brooks described his client’s actions as “a lapse in judgment during a narrow and isolated time.”

“[W]hat occurred in this case was a profound departure from the life he had lived up to that point. The consequences have been severe and permanent. Mr. Chavez has lost his career, his livelihood, and professional identity that he has worked for decades to develop.”

“Looking forward, Mr. Chavez understands that accountability does not end with this sentence. He’s committed to using the rest of his life to contribute positively, to support others and to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again,” Brooks added. “While he cannot undo what occurred, he can choose how he lives his life from this moment.”

Perry was found face down in his hot tub on October 28, 2023, at his home in Pacific Palisades, California. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office determined he had drowned, but attributed his death to ketamine, which Perry had been taking as part of a therapy. The levels of ketamine found in his system were so high that they were close to the range that would be used for general anesthesia during surgery.

Chavez, formerly a licensed physician in San Diego operating a ketamine clinic, was one of five people charged in connection with Perry’s death. Prosecutors alleged that he provided Perry the drugs secondhand by way of another doctor, Salvador Plasencia, who was sentenced to 30 months in prison earlier this month.

In the weeks after the “Friends” star died, it was revealed that Plasencia allegedly texted Chavez, saying, “I wonder how much this moron will pay.” Plasencia supplied Perry with 20 vials of ketamine, equal to 2,000 mg of the drug, along with ketamine lozenges and syringes in the month before his death, as The Daily Wire previously reported.