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  • 2018-12-05 (xsd:date)
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  • Is This a Prescription Written for Elvis One Day Before He Died? (en)
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  • On 3 December 2018, the Facebook page Pictures in History posted what appeared to be a prescription written by Elvis Presley’s doctor, George Nichopoulos, the day before the singer died at his Graceland estate in Memphis on 16 August 1977: Several clear indicators show this document to be a forgery. First, the ZIP code 34108 does not correspond to Memphis, Tennessee, but rather to part of Naples. The forger transposed a couple of digits, as the correct ZIP code for the Memphis address is 38104. Second, we find it unlikely that a doctor would spell his own name incorrectly. Presley's controversial personal physician (colloquially referred to as Dr. Nick even after he lost his medical license in 1995) was Dr. George Nichopoulos, not George Nichopolous. Even if Dr. Nick had accidentally misspelled his name in this one instance, though, it's still the case that the handwriting on the prescription in no way matches Nichopoulos’ actual signature. Below is his real signature as it appeared on a loan agreement between Presley and Nichopoulos signed in 1975 and the signature on the forged prescription for comparison: That being said, the forged document does speak to some historical realities. The faux prescription lists a variety of drugs that were frequently prescribed for Presley while he was a patient of Nichopoulos. Dilaudid (hydromorphone) and Percodan (oxycodone/aspirin) are both narcotic painkillers, Amytal (amobarbital) and Quaalude (methaqualone) are sedative drugs that Presley used to sleep, and Dexedrine (dextroamphetamine) and Biphetamine (amphetamine salts) are both stimulants similar to Adderall. Dr. Nichopoulos prescribed them all: Nichopoulos was blamed for the singer’s death and branded a Dr. Feelgood in the media. In September 1981 he faced trial on 14 counts of overprescribing uppers, downers, and painkillers to Presley, entertainer Jerry Lee Lewis, himself, and eight others: Nichopoulos was acquitted on all counts in November 1981, but in 1995 the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners permanently suspended his medical license, stating that he had been overprescribing to numerous patients for years. Nichopoulos died on 24 February 2016 at the age of 88. (en)
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