Late Colts owner Jim Irsay overdosed multiple times, received ketamine in years before death, per report

Jim Irsay, the late, longtime owner of the Indianapolis Colts who died in May at age 65, spent the final years of his life battling a relapse into opioid use that was largely concealed from the public, according to The Washington Post. The extensive report cited five people who claimed witness to Irsay's drug use, along with medical and police records. 

Despite his public advocacy around mental health and addiction, Irsay experienced at least three overdoses in the last five years, according to the report: One in Turks and Caicos in 2020, another at his home in Carmel, Indiana, in December 2023, and a third just days later at a Florida resort that led to a nearly four-month hospitalization. 

While the Colts publicly described Irsay's extended absence in early 2024 as a result of treatment for a "severe respiratory illness," -- Irsay later told local media he was recovering from surgery -- the Post's reporting found the hospital stay followed a drug overdose. The revelations contrast with Irsay's highly visible Kicking the Stigma campaign, a charitable initiative he launched to promote openness around mental illness and addiction. He had frequently discussed his own struggles in public.

Those public explanations often differed from what was happening privately, however, according to the Post. In December 2023, when a Colts executive called 911 during the incident at Irsay's home, the dispatcher was told only that Irsay might be suffering from heart failure. When the episode was later described as an overdose, Irsay pushed back on that characterization in public comments.

The Post also reported that two days before his Florida overdose in late 2023, Irsay fired a nurse who tried to hide his pills out of concern he was consuming them too quickly. That overdose left him hospitalized for nearly four months.

At the center of the Post's reporting was Dr. Harry Haroutunian, a California-based addiction specialist who prescribed opioids and later ketamine in doses that alarmed people close to the Colts owner. The Post cited prescription records and interviews indicating that Haroutunian provided Irsay with more than 200 opioid pills in the days before his December 2023 overdoses. Witnesses also described nurses under Haroutunian's direction administering ketamine injections -- a practice experts said carries heightened risks for patients with heart conditions and a history of substance abuse.

Haroutunian signed Irsay's death certificate after the owner's passing at the Beverly Hills Hotel, listing cardiac arrest caused by pneumonia and heart disease as the cause of death. The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner declined to conduct an autopsy, saying the death was not considered sudden or unexpected. Without toxicology testing, experts told the Post, it is impossible to know whether drugs contributed to his death.

Irsay's daughters -- Carlie Irsay-Gordon, Casey Foyt and Kalen Jackson, who now co-own the Colts -- issued a statement to the Post defending their father's legacy.

"Our Dad was open about his battles with addiction and mental health. He never claimed to be perfect," they wrote. "The media is not the place to address inquiries about information which is disputed, lacks essential context, or involves private medical matters."