Lisa Marie Presley, the only daughter of Elvis Presley, died of a small bowel obstruction as a delayed consequence of bariatric weight loss surgery, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner reported on Friday, six months after she died. Presley, a singer and songwriter in her own right, had been taken to hospital after reportedly suffering cardiac arrest at her home. She died on January 12.
The medical examiner listed the cause of death as "sequelae of small bowel obstruction." "The obstruction was in the form of a strangulated small bowel caused by adhesions that developed after bariatric surgery years ago," the examiner said in a report. "This is a known long-term complication of this type of surgery."
The examiner said she also had a history of overmedicating in which, forgetful that she had taken her prescription medication, she would repeat her doses. The toxicology report showed she had "therapeutic levels" of oxycodone and other medicine in her blood that were not considered contributing factors.
Presley died two days after she appeared with her mother, Priscilla Presley, at the Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, where actor Austin Butler won the best actor award for portraying her father in the film Elvis.
She was survived by her daughters, actress Riley Keough and 14-year-old twins Finley and Harper Lockwood. Presley began her music career in the 2000s with two albums, To Whom It May Concern and Now What, that made the top 10 of the Billboard 200 album chart.
She was married and divorced four times, including to pop star Michael Jackson and actor Nicholas Cage. She was the only child of one of the greatest stars in American music, and was 9 years old when Elvis Presley died of heart failure at age 42 in 1977 at Graceland. The mansion is now a tourist attraction.
Presley and other members of her family, including her father and her son, who died of suicide in 2020 at age 27, are buried at Graceland.
