Elvis Presley: Encyclopedia II - Elvis Presley - Death and burial

Elvis Presley - Death and burial

On August 16, 1977, at his Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, Presley was found on the floor of his bedroom's ensuite bathroom by Fiancee Ginger Alden who had been asleep in his bed. He was transported to Baptist Memorial Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead at 3.30pm. He was only 42 years old.

In her 1987 book "Elvis and Kathy", friend and backup vocalist Kathy Westmoreland wrote "Everyone knew he was sick, that each public appearance brought him to the point of exhaustion."

At a press conference following his death, one of the medical examiners declared that he had died of a heart attack. Heart disease was very prevalent in his family, especially on his father's side. Elvis' father Vernon also died of heart failure in 1979. His mother, Gladys Presley, died of a heart attack brought on by acute hepatitis at age 46.

Dr. Willis Madrey, who was responsible for examining Elvis' liver two years before his death, said "I had understood he was having some gastrointestinal problems his doctors were trying to evaluate" He was possibly referring to Elvis' obesity and enlarged colon, which worsened over time and may have led to diverticulitis. There is belief that his gastrointestinal problems combined with a weak heart caused his death, but the autopsy records will not be in the public domain until 2027. It is a lasting belief, though never confirmed, that he died on the toilet.

According to Peter Guralnick's book, Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley (1999), "drug use was heavily implicated in this unanticipated death of a middle-aged man with no known history of heart disease ... It was certainly possible that he had been taken while "straining at stool," and no one ruled out the possibility of anaphylactic shock brought on by the codeine pills he had gotten from his dentist, to which he was known to have had a mild allergy of long standing. ... There was little disagreement in fact between the two principal laboratory reports and analyses filed two months later, with each stating a strong belief that the primary cause of death was polypharmacy, and the BioScience Laboratories report ... indicating the detection of fourteen drugs in Elvis' system, ten in significant quantity."

In his book, Elvis: The Last 24 Hours, Albert Goldman even went as far as to suggest that Presley killed himself by overdosing on a stash of drugs that he stockpiled. David Stanley, Elvis's stepbrother, who was at Graceland the day Elvis died, is said to have removed the needles and drug packets near Presley's body before the paramedics arrived; he did not want to see the singer's name tarred with the brush of suicide,

On the other hand, some of his closest family members, friends, band members, and background singers have long disputed stories concerning Elvis' alleged drug abuse and "self-destructive" lifestyle. At the same time, they have not denied that he did take prescription medications for bona fide or suspected health problems. For instance, the late Vester Presley, Kathy Westmoreland, Charlie Hodge, and the late J.D. Sumner have pointed out that Elvis also suffered from severe health problems unrelated to drug abuse. These health problems included glaucoma, insomnia, and cancer. The illness may have increased his dependency on prescription medication.

Presley was originally buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis next to his mother. After an attempted theft of the body, his and his mother's remains were moved to Graceland.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Death and burial", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki