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Post by erik on Feb 26, 2016 21:58:49 GMT -5
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Post by sliderocker on Feb 27, 2016 1:41:55 GMT -5
"Dr. Nick" Nichopoulos got a raw deal because he did try to help Elvis when Elvis was addicted to the prescription drugs, and then when Elvis truly needed the drugs. A lot has changed over the years since so called "Elvis fan" Geraldo Rivera sold the world on the idea that Elvis had died of an overdose. Yes, Elvis had a number of drugs in his body when he passed but all were within therapeutic range except for two, which were toxic, which meant they would've made Elvis sicker than he already was. None were in the lethal range and some of the drugs had already been processed by Elvis's liver, including one of the drugs Geraldo had claimed interacted with another drug to kill Elvis.
The second coroner who reviewed Elvis's autopsy and medical results in the 90s concluded Elvis had indeed died of a massive heart attack. Elvis's identity had been switched with another deceased party and mixed in with a group of other autopsy papers placed in sealed envelopes and sent out. No one knew which one was Elvis's and no one knew which medical examiner got Elvis's autopsy and medical records. The Shelby county commissioners had wanted Elvis's medical history exposed as a fraud by their coroner, Dr. Jerry Francisco, all because he had sided with Memphis police in the killing of a black man. The political ploy backfired.
The reality was Elvis had been in seriously ill health with several illnesses for quite some time before his death. Those illnesses, especially the blocked colon, combined with the incessant touring and the pressure Elvis was under from his family and his dealings with Col. Parker, likely all combined to produce the massive heart attack that killed him.
Rivera had done a hatchet job on Dr. Nichopolous and destroyed Dr. Nick's reputation. To this day, Geraldo still hasn't paid for his crime against Dr. Nick, which was that he wanted the doctor to talk on camera about Elvis's drug use. Dr. Nick refused, citing the doctor-patient confidentiality rules and the fact that he had been Elvis's friend and still honored him in that regard. Rivera crucified him for his refusal to cooperate. Geraldo and ABC had already decided before their "20/20" special on what killed Elvis that drugs had been the cause of death, and they ignored those who said something different and distorted the things that those who talked to them did say. It was a hatchet job all way around and it was similar to anything the National Enquirer ran or any of the yellow journalism papers ran. To call what Geraldo and ABC did an example of good journalism would be to utter a lie. It was the poorest kind of journalism: character assassinations of the deceased and his doctor.
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Post by erik on Feb 27, 2016 12:21:15 GMT -5
I could be wrong about this, but I have read that Elvis also tended to get other prescriptions filled by other doctors when Dr. Nick wasn't watching--usually during the Vegas engagements, or whenever Elvis was in Los Angeles. If Elvis' fatal heart attack was bought on at least in part by polypharmacy, along with a truly disastrous diet and an enlarged heart, then Dr. Nick wasn't the one who supplied those drugs.
In any case, I couldn't agree more that Geraldo's was a hatchet job that smeared both doctor and client, and of course this wasn't just any client. I don't think Elvis has really been treated all that well by anyone in the press, mainstream or otherwise, since he died in 1977. In fact, compared to Michael Jackson, the way the press treated Elvis from start to finish was little short of disgraceful (IMHO).
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Post by sliderocker on Feb 27, 2016 18:12:12 GMT -5
I could be wrong about this, but I have read that Elvis also tended to get other prescriptions filled by other doctors when Dr. Nick wasn't watching--usually during the Vegas engagements, or whenever Elvis was in Los Angeles. If Elvis' fatal heart attack was bought on at least in part by polypharmacy, along with a truly disastrous diet and an enlarged heart, then Dr. Nick wasn't the one who supplied those drugs.
It was true Elvis had prescriptions filled by other doctors, including some questionable scripts, but the news media and those who made a big deal about them tend to overlook the fact that Elvis was in places like Las Vegas or in California, and couldn't get to his regular doctor. If he was ill, what would he have done? Stop everything and fly back or drive back to Memphis, if it was for something minor? Doctors didn't always share their information.
Even so, Dr. Nick started going on the tours with Elvis, so that he could monitor Elvis's situation on the road. He also requested from Elvis and got a trailer placed on the grounds of Graceland, where all the drugs were kept under lock and key, to only be distributed by a nurse. The press made much mention about the number of drugs that were prescribed to Elvis in the last year of his life, although what wasn't reported or they didn't bother to ask that essentially, Elvis had the prescriptions made out to him that were for his friends and employees. His dad was giving him hell about him taking care of his friends and the only to shut his dad up was to have the medicines and drugs put in his name. His dad acted like Elvis's money was his money. And I don't think Vernon ever said anything about Elvis paying for his divorce from his stepmother, Dee, which cost Elvis more of a bundle than the money he spent on his friends. Elvis should've told his dad to pay for his own divorce instead of relying on him.
With regard to the drugs that were in Elvis's system contributing to his death from a heart attack, the second coroner said that wasn't the case, even though there's no such thing as a safe drug. The various ailments Elvis had, and they were numerous, are thought to have caused the massive heart attack. Elvis had very high blood pressure, was pre-diabetic (and taking metformin for that, a drug which can cause heart failure), glaucoma, a blocked colon (another ailment thought to be the possible trigger for the heart attack), was extremely overweight, had high cholesterol and a very enlarged heart, three times the size of a normal heart, and an enlarged liver. Those are the ones I can remember. He had five or six other illnesses and one British doctor on the BBC show "Autopsy," said Elvis was essentially a walking time bomb. The drugs he was taking were fighting all that.
The doctors who performed the autopsy reportedly could find nothing wrong, although as I wrote in a review, Elvis had a heart that was three times the size of a normal heart and they didn't think there was anything unusual about that? They coined the word polypharmacy as being the cause although even that was before the toxicology tests had been done. And even there, the news media distorted what was said and what was found. Two of the drugs were toxic in nature but toxic only meant it would've made Elvis sicker than he was. Neither drug approached the the legal threshold for overdose, lethal, because one had already been processed through Elvis's body. All the other drugs were in the therapeutic range.
In any case, I couldn't agree more that Geraldo's was a hatchet job that smeared both doctor and client, and of course this wasn't just any client. I don't think Elvis has really been treated all that well by anyone in the press, mainstream or otherwise, since he died in 1977. In fact, compared to Michael Jackson, the way the press treated Elvis from start to finish was little short of disgraceful (IMHO).
What the news media did to Dr. Nick, and to Elvis in particular, would make for a book on character assassination. So many untrue things have been said about Elvis and passed off as fact, even though those things are still untrue. That includes Elvis slamming the Beatles to the FBI and to Nixon. Never happened in either meeting. Elvis felt there were celebrities who were unpatriotic and using their celebrity to mislead young people, and that's what he told the FBI agent, though he never named anyone. The FBI agent added the names in passing it along to his superior, people he thought Elvis was talking about. That memo somehow got transferred to the meeting with Nixon and one of Nixon's henchmen, Egil "Bud" Krough, said Elvis mentioned the Beatles by name, even though two of Elvis's friends, who were with him, were also on record as saying he never mentioned anyone by name at the White House. Krough was not a very reliable witness, given his criminal behavior in Watergate. Even other Watergate figures were nervous of him and didn't trust him.
But, the news media went to town on the drug issue. Every time Elvis's death was brought up (usually on August 16th), they made it a point to mention he had died from an overdose raather than from a heart attack. Most of the news organizations didn't bother to report the second coroner in the 90s who reviewed Elvis's autopsy and medical records concluded Elvis did die from a massive heart attack. Only one did, and that was Tom Brokaw on the NBC Nightly News. I was surprised to find a video on youtube of Brokaw reporting what really killed Elvis. And although I disagreed with Brokaw when he tried to shush Jerry Brown from giving out a 1-800 number when he was running for president, I thought Brokaw demonstrated his fairness and integrity reporting the story. Everyone else stuck with the Geraldo claim, even though they despised him.
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