The recently released autopsy report from the County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner has disclosed that actor Matthew Perry, best known for his role in “Friends,” died due to the “acute effects of ketamine.” Perry, aged 54, passed away on October 28 after an apparent drowning incident in a hot tub at his residence in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles.

The autopsy report outlined that along with the ketamine-related effects, Perry’s death was influenced by “coronary artery disease” and the effects of the medication buprenorphrine. The report also noted the discovery of “prescription medications and loose pills” at his residence.

Contrary to speculation, the autopsy confirmed the absence of substances such as alcohol, methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, PCP, and fentanyl. The report specified that Perry had trace amounts of ketamine in his stomach contents, although the exact method of intake remained unknown.

Perry had reportedly undergone “ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety,” with his last known treatment occurring more than a week before his demise. However, the medical examiner ruled out that the ketamine in his system at the time of death could be attributed to the therapy, given ketamine’s short half-life of 3 to 4 hours.

Ketamine, described as a dissociative anesthetic drug with established medical and surgical applications, has a history of use in veterinary surgery. Dr. Michael Baden, former chief medical examiner of New York City and a forensic pathologist, explained that ketamine was initially employed for surgeries on horses but later gained popularity among humans, albeit with hallucinatory side effects.

Speaking exclusively to Fox News Digital, Dr. Baden expressed surprise at the presence of ketamine in Perry’s autopsy report, noting that Perry had not previously been associated with this particular substance during his battles with addiction. Dr. Baden emphasized Perry’s efforts to raise awareness about the dangers of drug abuse and highlighted that ketamine was not among the drugs the actor had been known to abuse during his public struggles with addiction.

In a significant legal development, Prince Harry has achieved a partial victory in his ongoing court battle against British newspapers, particularly the Mirror Group, as a judge ruled on Friday that extensive phone hacking had taken place within the media organization.

The High Court in London concluded that Prince Harry’s personal cellphone had likely been hacked “to a modest extent.” Justice Timothy Fancourt, presiding over the case, determined that 15 out of the 33 news articles submitted by Prince Harry were a result of accessing his mobile voicemail.

Justice Fancourt asserted that phone hacking was both “widespread and habitual” over an extended period within the Mirror Group. Furthermore, he pointed out that senior managers were not only aware of the practice but also actively engaged in covering it up.

The Duke of Sussex, who is no longer a working royal following his relocation to California with his wife, Meghan, will be awarded £140,600 ($180,000) as a consequence of this partial victory.

Although Prince Harry was not physically present in court for the ruling, his lead attorney, David Sherborne, read a prepared statement outside the court on his behalf. In the statement, Prince Harry expressed that the case had exposed a “systemic practice of unlawful and appalling behavior, followed by cover-ups and destruction of evidence, the shocking scale of which can only be revealed through these proceedings.” He called for criminal charges against the publisher and urged the police and prosecutors to launch an investigation.

In response, Mirror Group Newspapers issued an apology, stating, “Where historical wrongdoing took place, we apologise unreservedly, have taken full responsibility and paid appropriate compensation.”

Prince Harry’s statement, however, claimed that the judgment proved senior editors and company executives, including Piers Morgan, were aware of and involved in illegal activities. He accused them of lying under oath during the Leveson Inquiry, to the Stock Exchange, and to the public.

The judgment explicitly mentioned, “There is compelling evidence that the editors of each newspaper knew very well that VMI [voicemail interception] was being used extensively and habitually and that they were happy to take the benefits of it.”

Piers Morgan, who served as the editor of the Daily Mirror from 1995 to 2004, has consistently denied any knowledge or involvement in illegal phone hacking. Responding to Friday’s judgment, he emphasized that only one article during his tenure might have involved unlawful information gathering, of which he claimed to have zero knowledge. Morgan asserted that all other claims against the Daily Mirror under his leadership had been rejected.