Controversy Over Cause of Death
When Elvis Presley “unexpectedly” died on August 16, 1977, a great public controversy erupted. The pathologists—including the coroner of Shelby County, Tennessee—found that Elvis died of a heart attack. However, ABC’s “20/20,” anchored by Ted Koppel, believed Elvis had died of a drug overdose and stated there was a cover-up regarding his death. They questioned why criminal charges had not been filed against Dr. Nick by the Shelby County district attorney. The popularity and influence of this show had an impact. The Tennessee medical board investigated the matter and acquitted Dr. Nick of acting unethically, unprofessionally, or of gross malpractice,but they convicted him of improperly prescribing medications to 10 individual patients, including Elvis Presley and the singer Jerry Lee Lewis. Shortly thereafter, the district attorney general’s office brought a criminal indictment against Dr. Nick alleging that he had willfully and feloniously prescribed controlled substances to the same 10 individuals for which the board found him guilty.
Dr. Nick first saw Elvis professionally in 1965 and became his regular doctor on February 27, 1967, when Elvis was 32 years old. At that time, Elvis complained of vertigo, back pain, and insomnia. He was diagnosed with labyrinthitis (infection ofthe ear). Hypertension (blood pressure of 140/96 mmHg) was evident at the time. His symptoms of vertigo resolved within about 1 week of treatment of his labyrinthitis. However, he developed tonsillitis shortly after his episode of labyrinthitis. On September 21, 1970, Elvis saw Dr. Nick for an infection or inflammation of his left eye. Elvis’ weight was 163 lbs and his blood pressure continued to be high, 160/100 mmHg. A complete blood count, liver function tests, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, urinalysis, and venereal disease research laboratory test (syphilis test) were all normal with the exception of a slightly high hemoglobin (16.8 g/L) and eosinophil count of 5.5%.When seen again in March 1971, the eye infection had worsened and he was given the diagnoses of an infection of the iris and uveitis. A systemic lupus erythematosus test was normal, but a CRP test was marginally high. In the ensuing year, 1972, Presley developed 2 or 3 episodes of prostatitis. He also experienced progressive headaches and lumbar spine pain between 1967 and his death in 1977
Elvis clearly had a disease process that had affected multiple organs—stomach, liver, spine, and eyes—but at the time, his physicians had no idea that he might have had a progressive autoimmune inflammatory disorder (Table 4). The concept of autoimmunity was just starting to be understood. Much to his credit, Dr. Nick gave Elvis the diagnosis of post-concussion syndrome, and believed his headaches were a result of his head injury of 1967 (outlined later). Dr. Nick related to me that, “Elvis was never the same after he hit his head in 1967.”
I usually don’t post things like this, but this makes good sense. This doctor reexamined Elvis’s case and claims that as a result of falling and hitting his head in 1967 he developed an undiagnosed autoimmune inflammatory disorder, and thereafter began increasing his dosage of drugs in an effort to self-medicate for pain that was caused by the disorder. This led to the heart disease which caused the heart attack which killed him.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/garry-rod … 57820.html
The Cause of Elvis’ Decline and Death
http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=84050#p1308466
Including a link to this article:
http://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/pain/other/brain-injury/elvis-presley-head-trauma-autoimmunity-pain-early-death
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