Claim: Lisa Marie Presley died from weight loss surgery complications

Question

Is the claim that Lisa Marie Presley " died from a small bowel obstruction, which was a complication of going under the knife for weight loss surgery years earlier" supported by evidence? What are the specific risk of having a surgery like this, and what are the death or complication rates from it?

Answer 1

By the looks of it, yes Lisa Maria Presley received a surgery that may have cause her death as the surgery she went through. In the article it explains what surgery she got and says, “involves attaching the top part of the stomach to the small intestine, to reduce the number of calories the body absorbs from food and increasing feelings of fullness…While the op can lead to significant weight loss over the course of a few years, it can trigger an array of complications — including the gut becoming blocked. This can happen as a result scarring and reduced blood flow to the site of the operation, and lead to food getting stuck and the gut becoming kinked or twisted.” That’s she underwent this surgery two months prior her death, it seems she was facing such complications and it even states in the article that she had to take opioids as well and had a history of overtaking drugs prescribed to her as she forgot when she had taken them. Her history with drugs seemed to be a problem and with that her surgery that comes with much complications could have been the result of her death.

Source:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12298597/Killer-complication-weight-loss-surgery-revealed-life-changing-procedure-obstruct-bowel.html

Answer 2

This is true. BBC states that the bowel obstruction was a result of adhesions caused by weight-loss surgery (bariatric surgery) she had years ago. The autopsy report states that Presley complained of abdominal pain months before and the morning of her death prior to being found unresponsive in her home (NBC News). Dr Angelique Campen, an emergency room physician at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center told t CBS that deaths from small bowel obstructions are rare (BBC).