Casey Kasem has been hospitalized and is reportedly in critical condition with an infected bedsore, according to an Associated Press report today. An earlier report in US Magazine indicated that Kasem – who is hospitalized in Washington state – was “alert and comfortable” despite being in critical condition.
Casey Kasem has received more media attention in the past couple of months than he has since hosting the American Top 40 radio show from the ’70s through the ’90s. Most of the media coverage of Casey has been unfortunate, to say the least.
Casey Kasem’s situation came to our attention when his second – and current – wife Jean Kasem was accused of trying to keep Casey’s children from him . Kasem’s children later brought charges that their stepmother was neglecting Casey’s care. Initially, the courts sided with Jean Kasem , ruling that Casey Kasem was to stay under his wife’s care . That’s when things began to get weird.
Jean Kasem continued to disallow Kasem’s adult children visitation rights . Eventually, the court stepped in and gave daughter Kerri Kasem and her siblings visitation rights . That’s when Casey Kasem went missing . Authorities believed Jean Kasem may have sent Casey out of the country , or may have hidden him on an Indian reservation. Some even speculated that the famous DJ may have already died . Jean Kasem refused to cooperate, even when a judge questioned her claim that she didn’t know where he was.
Kerri and Jean Kasem have continued to battle over Casey Kasem’s care, with the most bizarre twist coming when Jean Kasem threw raw ground beef at Casey’s daughter . Jean Kasem had this to say about the meat throwing incident:
“If you need to know why I did it — when a person is about to pass away, there are always rabid dogs… In the name of King David, I threw a piece of raw meat into the street in exchange for my husband to the wild rabid dogs.”
We can only speculate whether Jean is mentally and emotionally unstable or if there is some other explanation for the wife of the hospitalized Casey Kasem behaving in this manner.
A hospital spokesman had this to say about about Kasem’s condition:
“Mr. Kasem is alert and appears to be comfortable at this time. Any further updates on Mr. Kasem’s condition will be at the discretion and approval of his children.”
The spokesman also acknowledged that Casey Kasem, who is suffering from bedsores, is being treated with antibiotics and blood pressure medicine. Bedsores are one of the most common symptoms of elder abuse, and are often caused by failure to adequately care for those who are bedridden by keeping them regularly bathed, keeping their bedding fresh, and moving them from side to side so that they are not laying in the same position for long periods of time.
For now, Casey Kasem’s children are in charge of their father’s care. Casey Kasem remains in the hospital in critical condition, and his bedsores have become infected.