Presley Cancels Vegas Job To Enter Hospital
UPI Press
The Daily Courier
Friday, August 22, 1975

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (UPI) - Elvis Presley, whose famed swivel hips have been a little pudgy lately, is 40 years old, overweight and exhausted. He canceled a two-week engagement in Las Vegas this week after three days and reserved room at the Baptist Hospital today for treatment of fatigue, according to his doctors.

"He just got very tired and fatigued and 'we thought it would be best if he cut his show here short this time rather than run into complications," said Dr. Elias Ghanem, the singer's Las Vegas physician.

"We can't find much wrong with him," Ghanem said. "One of the liver enzymes is elevated and what he needs is rest." It will be the fifth hospital stay since 1973 for the millionaire entertainer, who is heavier than in his early days and reportedly is on a crash diet.

"We hope to have additional information by tomorrow (Friday) Presley's Memphis physician, Dr. George Nichopoulos, who was with the singer in Las Vegas and flew home with him Thursday. Nichopoulos refused to elaborate.

Presley opened at the Las Vegas Hilton Monday night and had scheduled performances through Labor Day. At the suggestion of his doctors, however, he canceled the engagement after Wednesday night's performances.

Presley did one show opening night and two shows each Tuesday and Wednesday, but observers said he appeared tired Wednesday night, occasionally resting on a stool when he was not the featured part of the act.

Maurice Elliott, an assistant administrator at Baptist Hospital, said Presley would be given a suite of rooms on the top floor of the 18-story hospital. The hospital reportedly has relocated some other patients on that floor to accommodate Elvis.

"We always know he's coming but we never know.exactly when," said one nurse late Thursday.

Last January,' Presley occupied that suite for two weeks when he suffered what Nichopoulos described as an intestinal blockage caused by a "twisted colon." After Presley was released, Nichopoulos said the problem responded to treatment, but he refused further comment.

Presley also entered the MidSouth Hospital for treatment of an "eye problem" but stayed only two days. Nichopoulos refused to elaborate on that hospitalization.

He also entered Baptist in June, 1973, for what was reported as pleurisy, and returned to the hospital in October of that year for what Nichopoulos said was pneumonia.

Courtesy of Francesc Lopez