Lisa Marie Presley’s friends ‘knew nothing’ about surgery linked to her death

Lisa Marie Presley reportedly kept the bariatric surgery that caused the small bowel obstruction which killed her secret from her friends.

Elvis Presley’s only child died suddenly at the age of 54 in January, just two days after her last public appearance at the Golden Globe Awards.

The Los Angeles County Coroner’s report ruled her cause of death as being caused by small bowel obstruction which “developed after bariatric surgery years ago”.

However, it has been reported by Page Six that the news of the historic surgery shocked some of her friends with one quoted as saying the singer had never been dangerously overweight and so never in need of bariatric surgery.

“When did you ever see Lisa look as if she needed bariatric surgery?” they asked. “She was not big at all. I don’t know what kind of doctor would perform this surgery on her,” they slammed.

The singer’s autopsy report which was obtained by CNN  included comments from deputy medical examiner Dr Juan M. Carrillo.

He attributed her death to “adhesions (scar tissue) that developed after bariatric surgery years ago. This is a known long-term complication of this type of surgery,” he wrote.

The report also contained her autopsy toxicology results which showed “therapeutic” levels of oxycodone in her blood.

Dr Carrillo added that quetiapine metabolite (used to treat depression, schizophrenia or manic episodes) and buprenorphine (a painkiller) were present in her blood, but “not contributory to death”.

Bariatric surgery, which can include the use of a gastric band, gastric bypass or a sleeve gastrectomy, is often used to treat obesity.

According to the Mayo Clinic, the surgery is used when other weight loss methods have failed to work.

In the run-up to the Golden Globes, which she was attending in support of the Baz Luhrmann-directed biopic of her father simply titled Elvis, she was said to have lost around 40lb through taking weight loss medication.

Speaking to Page Six, a source claimed: “She wanted to look her very best.”

On the day she died, Lisa Marie was found unresponsive at home and rushed to hospital after paramedics performed CPR on her. She was pronounced dead a few hours later.