Casey Kasem's family feud: Judge allows water, food infusions stopped

A critically ill Casey Kasem is in the middle of a legal and media battle between his children and their stepmother.

Story by CNN Los Angeles
Written by Alan Duke

Casey Kasem, an iconic voice of radio and television for decades, lies critically ill in a Washington state hospital, while his three children from his first marriage fight with their stepmother, Jean Kasem, in court and the media for control of his final days.

A Los Angeles judge reversed his own decision Wednesday and gave daughter Kerri Kasem the authority to have doctors end his infusions of water, food and medicine.

Kasem's doctor concluded that contining the artificial nutrition and hydration would only "at best prolong the dying process for him and will certainly add suffering to an already terribly uncomfortable dying process," said Kerri Kasem's lawyer, Troy Martin.

"The court's decision today upheld our father's explicit wishes as expressed by him in his health directive," Kerri Kasem said in a statement after the hearing. She was referring to a directive her father signed in 2007, saying he would not want to be kept alive if it "would result in a mere biological existence, devoid of cognitive function, with no reasonable hope for normal functioning."

An attorney for Jean Kasem, Steve Haney, slammed the judge's decision, calling it "the functional equivalent of a death sentence."

"Nobody wants Mr. Kasem to die," Martin said. "The fact is that he is dying from sepsis and dementia."

The public battle -- always emotional and sometimes bizarre -- began in October 2013 when daughters Julie and Kerri led a protest outside of Kasem's Los Angeles mansion, holding signs demanding that their stepmom let them see their ailing father. When confronted earlier this month in Washington state, a rep for one of the daughters said, Jean Kasem tossed raw hamburger meat toward one of her stepchildren, saying she was throwing the meat at "the dogs."

The dispute is about love, Kasem's oldest daughters said. His wife of 33 years argued it's about Kasem's fortune, built over four decades of radio and television voice work.

Reaching for the stars

Kasem's voice counted down the "American Top 40" hits each week for nearly four decades in a radio show heard around the world. He voiced the cartoon character Shaggy on "Scooby-Doo" cartoons for 40 years. He was the voice of the NBC television network for years. He narrated thousands of radio and television commercials during his career.

He divorced his first wife when his daughters and son were young. He remarried in 1980, to Jean, a 26-year-old actress best known for a recurring role on TV's "Cheers" series. The couple have a daughter together, Liberty Kasem, now a 24-year-old aspiring singer.

Kasem became the world's best-known radio host as his syndicated shows grew in popularity and distribution through the 1970s and 1980s. His famous signoff was "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars." He finally handed off his duties to Ryan Seacrest in 2004.

He retired from hosting and voice work in 2009, two years after a doctor diagnosed him with Parkinson's disease, a diagnosis that was later changed to Lewy body dementia, which has no cure, according to court documents.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/10/showbiz/casey-kasem-timeline/index.html