CNN
(CNN) — Renowned radio personality Casey Kasem is in critical condition at a hospital in western Washington, a spokesman for St. Anthony Hospital told CNN in a written statement Thursday.
“Mr. Kasem is alert and appears comfortable at this time,” Scott Thompson, a spokesman for the facility in Gig Harbor added.
The 82-year-old former host of “American Top 40” and “Casey’s Top 40” is receiving antibiotics through IVs, blood pressure support medicine and care for his bed sores, Thompson said.
Kasem was admitted to the hospital Sunday after one of his daughters and an ambulance crew retrieved him from a home where he and his wife were staying with friends.
“Any further updates on Mr. Kasem’s condition will be at the discretion and approval of his children,” Thompson said.
Danny Deraney, a representative of daughter Kerri Kasem, told CNN that members of the family, including Casey Kasem’s brother, were flying to Washington. When asked if they feared Casey Kasem might die, Deraney said it could be his last moments or he could get better. Deraney clarified that he never meant that Kasem’s health was failing as was reported by several media outlets.
The radio icon has been at the center of a family feud between Jean Kasem, his wife of 34 years, and his three children from his first marriage.
Kerri Kasem; her sister, Julie; and their brother, Mike Kasem, have contended since last year that Jean Kasem has prevented the three siblings from visiting their father.
Kasem has Lewy body disease, the most common type of progressive dementia after Alzheimer’s, and has been bed-ridden for some time.
He had been at a facility in Santa Monica, California, before Jean Kasem took him to Washington state after his daughter Kerri Kasem won temporary conservatorship over her father’s care.
Last week, a Washington court granted Kerri Kasem the right to visit her father one hour a day and to have him examined by a doctor.
On Friday afternoon, a Kitsap County judge will continue the hearing and get an update on the situation, Deraney said.
Deraney expected the judge to rule on whether Jean Kasem would have to let Kerri Kasem have more input on where her father lives and who cares for him.
Casey Kasem, who was also the voice of Shaggy in the cartoon “Scooby-Doo” and an announcer for NBC, retired in 2009.
CNN’s Jane Caffrey contributed to this report.
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