Casey Kasem’s daughter gets expanded power over dad’s health care

Casey Kasem’s daughter Kerri Kasem has been granted expanded authority regarding her ailing father’s care, and his wife, Jean Kasem, has been told to cooperate with the effort.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Tuesday ordered Jean Kasem to allow a court-appointed doctor to see her husband and also told her to give Kerri Kasem access to her father, the Associated Press reported. Jean Kasem’s lawyers were told to find out and, unless ethically bound, share the patriarch’s current address with the rest of the family.

While two attorneys from different firms showed up on Jean Kasem’s behalf Tuesday, Judge Daniel S. Murphy said, “I’m not sure she’s even complying with my order” from last week. Part of that order sought an assessment of Casey Kasem’s health.

The judge also gave Kerri Kasem permission to hire unarmed private investigators to look into the situation, if necessary, and to head north to see her dad. Also, his passport was to be surrendered.

Casey Kasem, whose whereabouts were unclear early last week, was found in Washington state late Tuesday, but his three oldest children, Kerri, Mike and Judie, were not notified until after they’d already filed a missing-persons report in Santa Monica on Wednesday. Kerri Kasem said at the time that she’d most recently seen her 82-year-old father at a nursing home in that city.

“This poor man was moved in the middle of the night,” Kerri Kasem told People. “This is no vacation. This is a man who has a feeding tube, hooked up to an IV and has dementia. This is not a man who needs to be unfamiliar surroundings.”

Washington state authorities said last week that the former “American Top 40” host was with his wife and staying with longtime friends of the family.

“We know he has an affliction, but he was alert, upright, dressed, groomed and cognizant of what was going on,” Kitsap County sheriff’s Deputy Scott Wilson told the AP. “We see a lot of at-risk adults and children. This wasn’t anywhere close to being suspicious.”

The radio icon is suffering from Lewy Body Dementia, not advanced Parkinson’s, as had previously been reported.

Kerri Kasem, who told People that she didn’t know the family her father was staying with and noted that he was only “one ferry boat away from Canada,” reacted negatively to Wilson’s characterization of her father’s status.

“‘Vacation’?!?,” she posted Friday on Facebook. “An 82 year old man with a terminal, horribly debilitating disease on ‘vacation’? *** Look up Lewy Body Dementia, confusion and stress can occur in unfamiliar surroundings among other things. THIS IS NOT A ‘VACATION.’”

Kerri Kasem had been appointed temporary conservatorship of her father on Monday. Her brother and sister, who had reached an agreement with Jean Kasem regarding visitation, said at the time that their deal had been breached.

“We are happy with the decision the court made today,” a spokesman for her said in a statement Tuesday. “Now Kerri and family can focus on bringing their father back home, where he can get the proper care and support that he needs.”