Lisa Marie Presley’s Cause of Death Revealed as Complications From Prior Weight-Loss Surgery

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner reported that Lisa Marie Presley died in January from a “sequelae of a small bowel obstruction. Scar tissue, hernias, and cancer create minor bowel obstructions. It can perforate gut tissue and kill without surgery.

According to CNN‘s Thursday autopsy report, deputy medical examiner Dr. Juan M. Carrillo linked Presley’s small bowel obstruction to “adhesions (or scar tissue) developed after bariatric surgery years ago. “This operation has a long-term complication.”
Carrillo also studied the autopsy toxicology reports, which showed “therapeutic” oxycodone levels in Presley’s blood. Quetiapine metabolites, which treat depression, schizophrenia, and manic episodes, and buprenorphine, which treat opioid addiction, were present but “not contributing to death.”

“No injury or foul play.” “Natural death,” Carrillo concluded.

The intestine’s motility may have slowed down due to Presley’s medications, increasing the likelihood that adhesions would obstruct it,” said Dr. Michael Camilleri, a consultant, and professor in the Mayo Clinic’s Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

“Unfortunately, adhesions can happen to anyone,” he warned. “Just because these other medications were on board doesn’t necessarily mean that the person was more prone to complications.”

Lisa Marie Presley, the only daughter of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley, died on January 12 after being sent to the hospital after suffering an apparent heart attack.
Dr. Folasade P. May, associate professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and director of the Melvin and Bren Simon Gastroenterology Quality Improvement Programme, told CNN Thursday that she believes Presley “developed a cardiac arrest because she had a severe complication from the small bowel obstruction.” CNN’s doctors did not treat Presley.

“The Presley family is shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Lisa Marie,” the family said in a statement at the time. “They are profoundly grateful for the support, love, and prayers of everyone and ask for privacy during this very difficult time.” Lisa Marie Presley’s last public appearance just days before her death was at the Golden Globe Awards, which she attended with her mother to support Baz Luhrmann’s film Elvis, about her late father.