Elvis Presley Family Facts

Elvis' Death Causes

Born in Tupelo, Mississippi on January 8, 1935, Elvis Aron Presley would become one of the most recognizable musicians in the world by the time he passed away in his Memphis mansion, Graceland, on August 16, 1977, at the age of 42.

That afternoon the singer was found by his girlfriend, Ginger Alden, lying unconscious on the floor of the master suite bathroom. Elvis was quickly taken by ambulance to the Baptist Memorial Hospital and, after attempts to revive him failed, was pronounced dead at 3:30 pm.

Though Elvis's actual cause of death appears to have been heart failure, the cardiac incident is now considered to be a result of the rock star's longstanding and serious drug abuse.

Like many performers at the time, Elvis was a heavy user of a number of prescription medications including opiates, barbiturates, and sedatives. When the toxicology report of the performer's blood came back from analysis several weeks after his death, it reportedly contained high dosages of, among other things, the opiates Dilaudid, Percodan, and Demerol, as well as Quaaludes and codeine.

In the years following his death, Elvis' Memphis physician, Dr. George Nichopoulos aka "Dr. Nick" was implicated in the singer's death.
In 1980, Nichopoulos, who began treating the star in 1967, had his medical license suspended by the state of Tennessee for three months for indiscriminately prescribing and dispensing controlled substances. According to the charges, in the last 20 months of Elvis's life, the star was prescribed over 12,00 pill and other pharmaceuticals and carried three suitcases of the drugs with him when he traveled.
(Nichopoulos argued that these drugs were for the use of Elvis's entire entourage, as an explanation for the volume)

Nichopoulos later testified that he gave Elvis any medications he requested because if he didn't the star would simply get them from another prescriber, or possibly turn to street drugs.

In November of 1981, Nichopoulos was charged with 11 felony counts of overprescribing drugs, but was acquitted.
He maintained his medical license until 1995 when it was permanently suspended by the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners.