Lisa Marie Presley, the singer-songwriter and only child of Elvis Presley, died in January as a result of a “small bowel obstruction” caused by scar tissue that developed after bariatric surgery several years ago , the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office said Thursday.
Ms. complains Presley on Jan. 12 of severe abdominal pain, according to an autopsy report released Thursday by the medical examiner’s office. Later that day, she was found unresponsive at her home in Calabasas, Calif., by her ex-husband, who was not named in the report.
Ms. Presley, 54, was taken by paramedics to a hospital, where he went into cardiac arrest and died later that afternoon.
The report said that although Ms. Presley has a past history of drug use, he has been sober “for the past few years.” However, health problems appear to have occurred after her bariatric surgery, which is generally considered a treatment option for people with a high body mass index who have failed to lose weight with diet and exercise alone.
Juan M. Carrillo, a deputy medical examiner in Los Angeles County, described the health problems of Ms. Presley after bariatric surgery as a “known long-term complication of this type of surgery.”
Prescribed Ms. Presley of opiates after his surgery and after an infection, the report said. He was then prescribed another type of medication to wean him off the opiates.
The report mentioned that Ms. Presley had a “history of overmedication; he knows he forgets to take his meds and will take them again.”
The autopsy report said toxicology results showed “therapeutic levels of oxycodone” in his blood. Buprenorphine, a drug to treat opioid addiction, was also present but did not contribute to his death, the report stated.
For months, she complained of abdominal pain, fever, vomiting and nausea but did not seek medical attention, according to the report.
The Los Angeles County Coroner’s office initially postponed the decision in the case of Ms. Presley. For months, officials said a medical exam had been performed, but a pathologist was awaiting additional test results — including, potentially, a toxicology report — before releasing an official cause of death. .
Two days before the death of Ms. Presley, he attended the Golden Globe Awards, where “Elvis,” a biopic about his father’s life, was nominated for several awards. Some of her on-camera interviews on the red carpet caused concern from fans and others who said he appeared unsteady.
Ms. was buried. Presley at Graceland, where a memorial was held in late January.
A few weeks later, Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie’s mother, who had long helped administer Elvis’ estate, went to court to challenge the validity of documents that said Lisa Marie’s daughter, the actress Riley Keough, became the sole executor upon the death of Lisa Marie.
In June, Ms. agreed. Keough to give Priscilla Presley, his grandmother and Elvis Presley’s ex-wife, a lump-sum payment as part of an agreement to resolve a dispute over control of the family trust, according to court documents.
The New York Times reports that although the Elvis brand now continues to take in more than $100 million a year as a licensing juggernaut, the family trust receives only a fraction of its proceeds.
Attorneys for the parties sought to keep the details of their settlement confidential, but the papers listed what appeared to be a payment of $1 million.
On Wednesday, appointed Ms. Keough for an Emmy for best actress in a limited series or TV movie for her titular role as the wild child in “Daisy Jones & the Six,” an Amazon mini-series about the rise and fall of a fictional mind band in the 1970s.