MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Elvis Presley was a drug addict and was hospitalized under a false name for treatment of drug abuse in 1973, a jury was told Friday.
An internal medicine specialist gave details of Presley's bouts with drugs after labeling as 'outrageous and dangerous' the supply of narcotics Presley allegedly received from his physician during the last two years and seven months of the rock 'n' roll king's life.
Dr. George Nichopoulos, Presley's doctor of 11 years, is on trial on 14 felony counts of overprescribing addictive drugs to Presley, singer Jerry Lee Lewis, himself and eight others.
If convicted on all counts he could be sentenced to 140 years in prison, fined $280,000 and lose his medical license.
Prosecutor James Wilson asked Dr. Alvin Cummins to characterize Nichopoulos practices of prescribing 19,000 uppers, downers, and painkillers for Presley over the 30-month period.
'They constituted an outrageous and dangerous overuse of drugs,' Cummins said.
Referring to medical records, Cummins revealed under the questioning of prosecutors that Presley was hospitalized three different times for a total of 48 days between Oct. 15, 1973 and Sept. 25, 1975.
Cummins said the records showed that Presley was treated at Baptist Hospital from Oct. 15 until Nov. 1, 1973, from Jan. 28 to Feb. 13, 1975, and from Aug. 21 to Sept. 25, 1975.
Wilson asked Cummins about notations from consulting physicians during the first hospitalization.
'Can you tell me what they were doing?' Wilson asked.
'They were withdrawing him from narcotic drugs,' Cummins answered.
The trial ended its third week with defense attorney James Neal attempting an cross-examination, pointing to notes in Presley's hospital charts that showed Nichopoulos ordered placebos in place of hard drugs.
Cummins agreed that placebos were given on occasion but testified that Nichopoulos allowed Presley to take hard drugs at the same time.
Trying to bolster a defense argument that the superstar received drugs from many sources, Neal also asked Cummins about drug screens of Presley while the singer was hospitalized.
Cummins showed the drug screens showed amphetamines in Presley's system though no ampetamines were prescribed while he was in the hospital.
'You're not aware that Mr. Presley was mailed amphetamines from the West Coast?'
'No,' Cummins answered.
The prosecution said that although Nichopoulos was the attending physician he did not sign the discharge papers as required when Presley was released, but defense attorney James F. Neal indicated during cross-examination that Nichopoulos did not sign them because Presley was hospitalized under an assumed name.
'You said Baptist Hospital required a discharge summary?' Neal asked.
'Yes,' Cummins answered.
'Isn't it a fact that the hospital put a false name on this patient's records?' Neal asked.
Cummins said this was true.
In the second hospitalization in 1975, the admission note said that Presley's chief complaint was abdominal problems. Doctors also noted that his face, hands, and the fronts of his legs were swollen.
In the third hospitalization later the same year, Presley was treated for shortness of breath and swelling. A note from Nichopoulos in the medical records said Presley was showing 'progressive malaise.'
Between the second and third hospitalizations, prosecutors said, Nichopoulos prescribed 1,679 addictive pills for Presley over a 205-day period -- 335 amphetamines, 816 sedatives, and 528 narcotics.
'Did you see any condition that would require this amount of drugs?' the prosecutor asked.
Cummins answered the string of questions 'Absolutely not,' 'Absolutely none,' 'None whatsoever,' and 'None.'
Elvis, bloated at age 42, was found dead in a bathroom of his Memphis mansion on Aug. 16, 1977. A state witness testified earlier that 14 drugs -- including 10 times the maximum accepted level of codeine - were found in blood and tissue samples sent to a California laboratory for analysis.
Although part of the results of the autopsy were revealed the first time, the conclusions -- whether Presley died of drug abuse -- remain a secret. Prosecutors say the issue in the trial is whether Nichopoulos overprescribed -- not how Presley died.
Wilson asked Cummins, a specialist in internal medicine and chairman of the gastroenterology department at the University of Tennessee Medical School here, whether he had an opinion based on his review of the prescription records of whether Presley was addicted to drugs.
'Absolutely. He was addicted,' Cummins said.
