“I'm not great at the advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?”

This is what ‘Friends’ actor Matthew Perry’s character Chandler Bing was known for. He was known for being funny. However, he had his own struggles in his personal life and those struggles were acute depression. He was treating it with ketamine infusion therapy which is legal in the US and the UK.

What is Ketamine infusion therapy?

Ketamine is an anaesthetic used to treat depression, anxiety and pain under supervised and controlled medical settings. However, it does have its side effects, which can lead to distortion of sight, sound and time. It can also produce calming and relaxing effects.

Ketamine increases a person’s heart rate and blood pressure. If overdosed, it can leave users confused and agitated and can cause them to hurt themselves without even realising it. It can also lead to liver damage and bladder problems.

However, when used in moderation and under the supervision of medical doctors, it can treat depression where traditional antidepressants have failed.

Prof Rupert McShane, a University of Oxford psychiatrist who runs an NHS ketamine treatment clinic told BBC that ketamine “probably turns off the area of the brain that is involved in disappointment.”

Can Ketamine Infusion Therapy Kill Someone?

In simple terms, it cannot, be if the dosage is given in a controlled setting and as prescribed. Ketamine infusion therapy uses drugs in small doses than those used for anaesthesia. It acts faster than traditional anti-depressants, but the effects also wear off way quickly. Which is why it is important to monitor patients’ mental state for relapsing back into depression and discouraging them from overdosing on it.

There are ways of giving people ketamine. One of the ways is through “infusing”, which means to use an IV drip. However, injections, nasal sprays and capsules are also methods used to give people ketamine.

Since the dosage of ketamine used in the infusion treatment is small, it being the reason of actor Perry’s death was ruled out. The medical examiner also noted that Perry’s last ketamine infusion therapy session happened more than a week before his death, which means by the time he had died, it must have worn off.

So, What Happened To Perry?

Though Perry’s last session was more than a week before, his post-mortem showed that his blood contained a high concentration of ketamine. He had died of the “acute effects” of ketamine.

If it was not his session, then how did he get ketamine?

Prosecutors alleged that his assistant gave him at least 27 shots of ketamine in four days before his death, reported BBC.

Perry has been open about his personal struggles and this is what the doctors and dealers used against him. Martin Estrada, the US attorney for California’s Central District told the BBC that people took advantage of his condition. They charged him 165 times more than what vials of ketamine cost.

Names that have come up include Dr Salvador Plasencia, drug dealers “Ketamine Queen” aka Jasveen Sangha and Eric Fleming, and Perry’s live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa.

Who Are These Names And What Did They Do?

Ketamine Queen or Sangha supplied drugs that led to Perry’s death. Her home was a “drug-selling emporium,” said Estrada. More than 80 vials of ketamine, and thousands of pills including methamphetamine, cocaine and Xanax were allegedly found in her house known as the “Sangha Stash House.”

Sangha is known to deal with high-end celebs and was a “major source of supply for ketamine to others as well as Perry,” said Estrada.

Dr Plasencia called Perry a “moron” while charging him $2,000 for vials that cost only $12. He sold Perry 20 vials of ketamine between September and October 2023, costing $55,000.

He was the one who taught Iwamasa, who had no medical knowledge to inject the drug. This is after he knew that “Perry’s ketamine addiction was spiralling out of control,” as per what the investigators told the BBC.

Another dealer Fleming was told by Sangha to “delete all our messages.” While Fleming pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute drugs unlawfully, he also allegedly messaged Sangha: “Please call...Got more info and want to bounce ideas off you. I’m 90% sure everyone is protected. I never dealt with [Perry] only his assistant. So the assistant was the enabler.”

The court documents also revealed that he asked Sangha on whether the ketamine stays in your system or “is it immediately flushed out.”

Dr Pepper, Bots, Cans

The people who allegedly exploited Perry used coded language for ketamine and called it “Dr Pepper”, “bots”, or “cans.”

Selling overpriced drugs, taking advantage of Perry’s mental condition and falsifying medical records to make the drugs given to him look legitimate by Dr Plasencia is what took Perry’s life.

Iwamasa is said to have administered more than 20 shots of ketamine and three on the day Perry died. Whereas ketamine is only administered by a physician. Authorities also found that weeks before Perry’s death, Dr Plasencia allegedly bought 10 vials of ketamine and intended to sell to Perry.

He also injected Perry with a large dose, two days later. This caused him to “freeze up” and spiked his blood pressure.

When I Die, I Want Helping Others To Be The First Thing That’s Mentioned

Perry had always been open about his drug addictions, struggles with alcohol and his depression. He said that his openness would help others who are also struggling and wanted to be remembered by his quote which also is on the homepage of the Mattew Perry Foundation that helps others struggling with the disease of addiction: “When I die, I want helping others to be the first thing that’s mentioned.”

Five arrests have been made in the case so far.

The UK National Health Service (NHS) is soon expected to roll out free weight-loss Wegovy jab to over a million people in England at risk of heart attacks and strokes.

The move is based on the recommendation of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which said that overweight people with heart problems, or serious circulation problems in their legs, should have the weekly jab "as an extra layer of protection".

Developed by Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, Wegovy is primarily an antidiabetic medication used to treat Type 2 diabetes. People receiving the weight-loss drug Wegovy sustained weight loss for up to four years.

"We know that people who have already had a heart attack or stroke are living with real fear that it could happen again. The evidence from the clinical trial is compelling. It showed that people taking semaglutide alongside their existing heart medicines were significantly less likely to have another heart attack or stroke,” said Helen Knight, from NICE.

"Today's decision gives thousands of people in that situation an extra layer of protection, on top of the medicines they are already taking," she added.

Also read: Foundayo: US FDA Approves Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 Weight Loss Pill

Wegovy and Heart Risk

A November 2023 study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, elicited a randomized clinical trial of tens of thousands of people, in which Wegovy - alongside existing heart medicines - was linked to a 20% reduced risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Importantly, benefits were seen early in the clinical trial, before significant weight loss occurred, suggesting the drug works directly on the heart and blood vessels, not just through weight loss, as per the NICE

The BBC reported that the UK faces a significant heart disease burden, and every year:

100,000 people get hospitalized due to heart attacks,

100,000 people experience a stroke

350,000 people live with peripheral arterial disease.

Sharon Hodgson, the health minister, said weight-loss drugs were a “gamechanger” and giving them to people at risk of heart attacks and strokes would be a “lifesaver”.

Also read: India To Strictly Inspect GLP-1 Drugs To Curb Misuse: Govt Flags Risks Amid Weight-loss Hype

Wegovy Is Top Weight-Loss Choice for US Teens

Only Wegovy has been approved by the US FDA for children aged 12 and older who are living with obesity. Since the approval in late 2022, the prescriptions have surged.

According to health data company Truveta, which reviewed medical records from 30 US health systems, prescriptions for Wegovy among teens jumped by 50 percent in 2024—rising from 9.9 per 100,000 adolescents in 2023 to 14.8 per 100,000 in 2024.

The first quarter of 2025 showed another increase, with the rate reaching 17.3 per 100,000.

From Europe to Africa to North America to Australia, measles cases are rising across continents. The main driver: declining vaccination rates and immunity gaps.

As of March 26, 1,575 confirmed measles cases were reported in the United States in 2026, according to the latest data published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There have been 16 new outbreaks reported in 2026, and 94% of confirmed cases (1,483 of 1,575) are outbreak-associated (359 from outbreaks starting in 2026 and 1,124 from outbreaks that started in 2025). In 92 percent of cases, measles occurred among those with no vaccination.

Mexico's Ministry of Health recently reported a significant increase in measles cases in 2026, with more than 7,400 confirmed infections recorded since the beginning of the year.

A PAHO report in February shared a 43-fold increase in measles cases across seven countries — Bolivia, Canada, Chile, the United States, Guatemala, Mexico, and Uruguay — with no deaths reported.

Active outbreaks have been reported in London and Birmingham in the UK. In Europe, recurring outbreaks have been reported in Italy, Spain, France and Romania.

A measles alert has also been issued for the Gold Coast area after two cases were confirmed to have been contracted by people overseas and then brought home to Australia.

Earlier this week, Bangladesh reported a measles outbreak that reportedly led to the death of at least 38 children, leading health authorities to roll out a vaccination program for younger children in a bid to halt the outbreak.

Official data show that in 2026, more than 2,300 children were admitted to hospital with suspected measles, of whom 684 have tested positive so far.

Amid these outbreaks, HealthandMe spoke to public health experts to understand whether these cases can increase the risk of the highly contagious disease in India. While India has a better vaccination rate with the Measles and Rubella (MR) Vaccine, some pockets in rural areas may increase the risk.

"In India, the catch-up vaccination drive named Mission Indradhanush was intensified in 2024, successfully rectifying the vaccination gaps that occurred during the COVID pandemic. But the disease can still spread among pockets of the population where vaccination coverage remains low,” Dr. Rajeev Jayadevan, Ex-President of IMA Cochin and Convener of the Research Cell, Kerala, told HealthandMe.

"The proven method to stop measles is to build an 'immunity wall' within the community—by vaccinating at least 95 percent of people—so that the virus repeatedly runs into 'road blocks' and eventually dies out, instead of getting a free ride infecting everyone. When vaccination coverage drops due to many reasons, outbreaks happen, and complications follow," he added.

Also read: Measles In Oahu Visitor Sparks Exposure Risk In Hawaii: Report

What Is Measles?

Measles is a highly contagious virus that spreads through direct contact or through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

Symptoms typically appear seven to 14 days after exposure and may include:

high fever,

cough,

runny nose,

red eyes,

rashes across the body.

Measles And Vaccination

Measles is a vaccine-preventable disease that can cause devastating complications, including blindness, pneumonia, encephalitis, and long-term immune dysfunction.

The reports of deaths from Bangladesh indicate the presence of a significant 'immunity gap,” allowing the virus to take hold, said Dr. Jayadevan. He added that among the unvaccinated, measles is one of the most contagious viruses on Earth—spreading even faster than COVID-19.

Dr Neha Rastogi, Senior Consultant - Infectious Diseases, Fortis Gurugram, told HealthandMe that although the Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccination campaign has played a major role in reducing cases and preventing large-scale outbreaks by building community immunity in India, "there is still some risk of Measles spread in India".

"Although cases have declined significantly, outbreaks can occur due to gaps in vaccination coverage, especially in rural or densely populated areas. Migration, low awareness, and missed immunization doses also contribute to the risk,” she added.

How Does Measles Spread

"Measles spreads rapidly because it is a highly contagious viral disease transmitted through respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes," Dr Rastogi told HealthandMe.

She noted that crowded living conditions, poor ventilation, and low immunity levels increase the risk of transmission.

"Lack of awareness, malnutrition (especially vitamin A deficiency), and incomplete or missed vaccination also contribute to outbreaks. The virus can remain active in the air or on surfaces for several hours, making it easy to infect others,” the infectious disease expert said.

The CDC noted that measles transmission may also occur during travel.

"Travelers with fever and other overt signs of transmissible illness, such as coughing or malaise, should be strongly encouraged to delay travel while symptomatic,” it said.

Dr. Jayadevan said that the rising global measles cases are "a reminder that no one is safe until everyone is safe. India must strive to identify those pockets where vaccination coverage is low and undertake intensive corrective measures, taking the community into confidence through effective awareness campaigns".

How To Stay Safe

To safeguard against measles, individuals should ensure timely vaccination, especially for children.

Maintaining good hygiene, such as frequent handwashing and covering the mouth while coughing or sneezing, helps reduce transmission.

Avoiding close contact with infected individuals and ensuring proper nutrition to boost immunity are also important.

Public awareness and community health programs play a crucial role in prevention.

In a disturbing case from the US state of Florida, a pregnant woman in active labor was forced to attend a virtual court hearing via Zoom from her hospital bed for refusing a Cesarean delivery, also known as C-section — a common method of childbirth.

ProPublica reported that Cherise Doyley was in her 12th hour of contractions at the University of Florida Health facility, when she was, without her consent, made to sit in front of a host of people — a judge in a black robe and several lawyers, doctors, and hospital staff — for the Zoom proceeding.

While in active labor, a nurse came in with a bedsheet and told her to cover up, and a supervisor followed with a tablet.

“It’s a real judge in there?” Doyley asked the nurse at the beginning of what would be a three-hour hearing.

What Was The Case?

The mother of three, and a professional birthing doula, Doyley had arrived at the facility after her water broke.

While her doctors expressed concerns about the risk of uterine rupture —a potentially deadly complication for her and her baby — Doyley wanted to try for a vaginal delivery, as the risk was less than 2 percent, unless there was an emergency.

She told doctors she wouldn’t consent to a cesarean without trying to have a vaginal delivery first.

While the doctors initially relented, after several hours, she had to face a virtual court hearing, where the hospital and state attorney’s office forced Doyley to undergo a cesarean section.

Doyley has her own reasons to avoid a C-sec. She already had three prior C-sections, and one that resulted in a hemorrhage. She feared that a C-sec would lead to another serious complication and a lengthy recovery, and her kids would suffer.

However, the hospital was worried that her medical decisions may cause harm to the fetus, and that the courts may help decide which one mattered more, the report said.

Also read: Maternal Vaccination During Pregnancy Can Prevent COVID-related Hospitalization In Babies: Study

After three hours of testimony — all while Doyley lay in her hospital bed — the judge ruled that she could keep laboring unless there was an emergency. If that happened, the hospital could operate, whether she wanted it or not.

Overnight, doctors said the baby’s heart rate dropped for seven minutes. Doyley woke to her hospital bed being wheeled into surgery. The baby girl was delivered by C-section, the report said.

What Happens In A C-section?

It is a surgical procedure that is used to deliver a baby through an incision made in the abdomen and uterus.

The method is preferred, especially in cases with complications during labor or breech presentation, or multiple births.

Unlike the popular conception, it hurts. In a vaginal delivery, the pain is experienced during labor and pushing, especially if done without an epidural.

Whereas, in a C-section, a surgery is performed that numbs the body from the chest down. However, the recovery could be painful and prolonged. It is also because in a C-section, it involves healing from a major abdominal surgery, while vaginal birth recovery may be quicker, more complicated, or traumatic.

Also read: 'Husband Stitch': A Medical Necessity Or Just A Tool To Objectify Women's Bodies?

Does A C-sec Affect The Baby?

Usually, it does not harm the baby, but there could be potential risks to the baby, including:

• Surgical injury, which is very rare; however, the baby may be accidentally nicked during the incision.

• Respiratory issues: Babies born via C-section may have a higher risk of breathing, since they miss the natural compression during the vaginal birth that helps expel the amniotic fluid from their lungs

• Delayed bonding: Immediate skin-to-skin contact may take longer due to the surgical process.
• Feeding challenges: Some newborns may initially struggle with breastfeeding.

Risks Of A C-section Birth?

• Excessive blood loss
• Infection
• Blood clots in the legs, lungs, or pelvis
• Damage to nearby organs
• Adverse reactions to anesthesia

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) advises against elective C-sections due to these potential complications.