Matthew Perry's ketamine doctor gets prison term

A former physician who supplied ketamine to “Friends” star Matthew Perry in the weeks leading up to the actor’s death was sentenced Wednesday to serve 30 months — about two and a half years - in federal prison.

- BY BRITTNY MEJIA AND CHRISTOPHER BUCHANAN

Salvador Plasencia, known to Perry as “Dr. P,” according to court filings, appeared before a federal judge Wednesday in downtown Los Angeles. He immediately surrendered after the hearing to begin serving his time. His mother, sitting in the courtroom audience, sobbed and sank to her knees as she watched him get handcuffed.

Plasencia was also sentenced to two years of supervised release.

"You and others helped Mr. Perry stay on the road to such an ending by helping feed his ketamine addiction," U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett told Plasencia. "You took a Hippocratic oath to do no harm, but you did harm."

Plasencia pleaded guilty to four felony counts of ketamine distribution in July. He was one of five people charged last year in connection with Perry's death in October 2023.

During an emotional two-hour sentencing hearing, Perry’s mother, stepmother and two sisters detailed their devastating loss.

Suzanne Morrison, Perry’s mother, spoke directly to Plasencia, telling him she used to think her son “could never die.”

“This is my boy,” she told Plasencia. “I just want you to see his mother.”

“This was a bad thing you did,” she added.

“I failed Mr. Perry. I failed him. I failed his family. I failed the community,” Plasencia said soon after. “I should have protected him. It was my oath to protect him.”