Lisa Marie Presley Died From Bowel Obstruction After Weight Loss Surgery

A small bowel obstruction (SBO) is no small deal. And a SBO is reportedly what led to the January 12 death of Lisa Marie Presley, the then 54-year-old daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley. That was the conclusion of the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office, as reported by Diana Dasrath for NBC News. Dasrath quoted the autopsy report as saying that Presley’s SBO was “in the form of a strangulated small bowel caused by adhesions that developed after bariatric surgery years ago.”

Now, the word strangulated rarely connotes a favorable and stable situation. Typically, you don’t hear people say, “Things got better because my body parts got strangulated,” or “My body parts are getting strangulated right now, but I should be able to make it to dinner shortly.” The Merriam Webster dictionary defines “strangulation” as “to become constricted so as to stop circulation.” So strangulation of your small bowel is where something is squeezing your small bowel to the point that not enough blood can get through into the organ. That would be a medical emergency since no organ in your body can survive for long without fresh blood and the oxygen that such blood brings.