The tragic and unexpected passing of Lisa Marie Presley on January 12, 2023, as confirmed by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, stemmed from a devastating "small bowel obstruction." Her life, at the age of 54, surpassed her legendary father Elvis Presley's by a poignant 12 years, who himself succumbed to a heart attack on August 16, 1977, though whispers lingered of drug-induced decline.
In a meticulous report released on January 14, 2023, the coroner's office in Los Angeles attributed Lisa Marie's demise to the "sequelae of small bowel obstruction," a medical phrase denoting the aftermath or secondary effects of a condition. Notably, her prior "bariatric surgery" was cited as a contributing, albeit not immediate, factor. This gastric bypass procedure, undertaken years ago in Dallas, had transformed her body by shrinking her stomach and rerouting sections of her small intestine, facilitating significant weight loss through restricted food and calorie intake.
On that fateful day, Lisa Marie was rushed from her Calabasas, California, residence to the neighboring UCLA West Valley Medical Center, her family's world shattered by her cries of "abdominal pain," as recounted in the coroner's report. Tragically, she was already "unresponsive" by the time the ambulance arrived, and her life was declared over at 5:08 p.m. at the hospital.
Her hospitalization revealed a grotesquely distended abdomen and a dire diagnosis of severe metabolic acidosis – a toxic overload within her system. The "obstruction" that claimed her life was identified as a "strangulated small bowel," a dire consequence of scar tissue adhesions, remnants of her bariatric surgery years earlier. "This is a well-documented long-term complication of such surgeries," the report solemnly noted, classifying her death as natural.
Amidst the solemnity, a poignant detail emerged from the autopsy report: "Multiple tattoos are identified... The word 'Ben' prominently etched on her right hand." This poignant tribute serves as a heartbreaking reminder of Lisa Marie's profound loss – her son, Benjamin Storm Presley Keough, who took his own life on July 12, 2020, at the tender age of 27, forever etched in her memory and heart.
