The Procedure That Led To Lisa Marie Presley's Heartbreaking Death

Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of iconic singer Elvis Presley, passed away in January 2023. Sole beneficiary of her father's massive estate and a singer-songwriter in her own right, it was revealed in an autopsy report obtained by People that she underwent bariatric surgery years prior to the complications that took her life. Also known as a gastric bypass, bariatric surgery is a type of weight-loss surgery that is typically only done after diet and exercise have failed. According to Mayo Clinic, there are several different paths the surgery can take. Each of them changes a patient's digestive system, controlling the amount of food a person can eat or absorb after eating.

There are different risks associated with the different kinds of bariatric surgery. Ulcers, bleeding, infection, and obstructions are some of the most common side effects of the surgery. A small bowel obstruction is what led to Lisa Marie Presley's death. According to Dr. Dubrow in an interview with People, "The most common complication of that kind of surgery is when that scarring is in there, it sometimes can catch pieces of the bowel, or it can impair intestinal motility (the movement of food) and that causes what's called a small bowel obstruction. That happens in about 6% of all bariatric type surgery." Cosmetic surgery is fairly commonplace in Hollywood, so it's no surprise that many celebrities undergo weight-loss procedures.

As tragic as the passing of Lisa Marie Presley was, it immediately began a saga of legal disputes over the Elvis Presley estate and Graceland. Lisa Marie had been the sole beneficiary of the family's assets. In a contentious move, she had removed Priscilla Presley as trustee of the estate with the role going to Lisa Marie's eldest children. Priscilla filed court documents disputing the 2016 change to Lisa Marie's living trust, and a legal battle ensued between Priscilla and Lisa Marie's oldest daughter Riley Keough. The two eventually reached a settlement, but that didn't end the legal drama that Keough would be dealing with.

A company called Naussany Investments later claimed to own the deed to the Graceland property. According to the company, Lisa Marie had used the estate as collateral for a loan and her passing left the balance unpaid. An auction for the property was announced by the company, but never started. Keough sued the company, claiming the signatures of her mother were forged and the entire claim was fraudulent. It even argued that the company in question was fraudulent and didn't even exist. The claim to the property was dropped by Nassany Investments and Private Lending, who told AP in a May 2024 statement that the documents had been filed in a different state. So with actions in several states being required, they would be "withdrawing all claims with prejudice." A likely story...