Three weeks after Casey Kasem's wife removed him from a Los Angeles hospital and took him on a road trip to Washington to stay at a friend's house, the radio icon's health is deteriorating, according to his daughter's testimony during a court hearing on Friday.
Even though a Los Angeles judge has granted Kasem's eldest daughter, Kerri, a temporary conservatorship over his health care, his wife, Jean, has not allowed her to see her father, Kerri Kasem said in court.
Kerri Kasem said she is increasingly worried about her father's condition, after the Seattle physician hired by Jean Kasem told her that he now has bed sores, a lung infection, and a urinary tract infection — ailments he did not have when he was at Berkeley East Convalescent Hospital in Santa Monica, she said.
Judge Jennifer Forbes ruled that Kerri Kasem must be allowed to visit her father for an hour each day, but that the visits must be kept private, and if photos are taken, they cannot be shared with anyone.
Jean Kasem, who has not attended any of the hearings in Los Angeles, was forced to attend the Kitsap County hearing or risk going to jail. Dressed in black and her hair pulled back in a bun, Jean Kasem did not speak during the hearing, but was visibly upset by the judge's orders.
Jean Kasem, 59, removed her husband from a Santa Monica facility on May 6 at 2:30 a.m. and took him to Washington without telling his three children from his first marriage where they were going. Although Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Daniel S. Murphy on May 20 ordered that Kerri Kasem be allowed to see her father in Washington to check on his welfare, Jean Kasem has not allowed it.
"Isolation is a factor in elder abuse under civil law," Murphy said on May 20. "What concerns me even more is that I appointed an attorney to represent the interests of Mr. Kasem and he's not been allowed to have any conversation with his client or the doctor I appointed."
Casey Kasem, 82, is suffering from Lewy Body dementia and needs round-the-clock care. Murphy ordered that law enforcement search for Kasem after he received conflicting information about his whereabouts during a hearing on May 12.
The Kitsap County Sheriff's Office located Kasem in Washington on May 13 at a friend's house. Deputies said Casey Kasem "was not in distress" when they checked on him.
Another hearing will be held in Kitsap County on June 6, unless the family agrees to return to California, Forbes said.
Kerri Kasem will also be allowed to take her father to see a physician in Washington this week. The judge said she will leave it up to a doctor to decide if Casey Kasem needs to be hospitalized or requires round-the-clock care at home, as his daughter also suggested.
