Casey Kasem: Children vs. wife re elderly with medical problems

[gollygee]

I'm not interested in celebrity gossip, but with an elderly parent starting to have problems with dementia, this story interests me from the "family rights" side of things.

I feel for his kids (from a previous marriage) but I guess I don't understand why his wife isn't allowed to be in charge of his medical care, and I can understand why she's uncomfortable with them having access to him when they're treating her like his abductor rather than his wife.

Here's the story. I'm interested if anyone else has a different read of it. The quoted part is from the AP story in the shaded section below the Huffington Post story.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/15/casey-kasem-found_n_5327966.html

Casey Kasem, 82, has been in poor health in recent years. Kerri Kasem's court filings state her father is suffering from a form of dementia called Lewy Body Disease that had previously been incorrectly diagnosed as an advanced form of Parkinson's disease.

Until Monday, Casey Kasem's wife of 34 years, Jean, had been in control of his medical care and controlled access to him. She has blocked three of Kasem's children from a previous marriage, including Kerri Kasem, from seeing him in recent months, according to court filings.

Danny Deraney, a spokesman for Kerri Kasem and her siblings, said the family still had "grave concerns" about Casey Kasem's health.

Jean Kasem's attorney Craig Marcus argued Monday that his client had the right to move her husband to any facility she saw fit. Murphy said he had the authority to order an investigation into Casey Kasem's whereabouts and appointed an independent attorney and doctor to evaluate the radio host.

[hobbit709]

1. M-O-N-E-Y!

[elehhhhna]

2. 80 million bucks. They've been married for like 35 years...

the kids are zooming in for the bucks, IMO

She should sue them for libel and slander after he's gone, if they keep this shit up.

[Sheldon Cooper]

3. Money is the obvious answer, but I think it can go deeper than that.

Even families made up of poor people can be dysfunctional, with spouses keeping stepchildren away from their ailing parent, and etc. In my opinion, access to a dying loved one should not be denied except under extreme conditions. It took my dad two months to die, and if I had been forbidden to visit him during that time I would have been devastated.

Certainly after having been married for 35 years, Jean Kasem should have had control of Casey's medical decisions. But apparently a judge gave those rights to his daughter and, without supporting information, it's hard to know what is really going on with that clan.

[laundry_queen]

9. Yeah

pretty obvious we don't have all the info. Sad story in any case.

[bettyellen]

4. if you can, see a geriatric psychiatrist they are amazing, will help you plan and make sure that

they are as accurate as possible in diagnosing the type of dementia, help you understand what you will be facing and plan for the future - including making sure health care directives, proxies and wills are in order. If your parent is still able to clearly express their will, they can testify to that in case some families get contentious. And they do, my aunt was trying to get lawyers to rewrite the will, then threatened to try and nullify it. Because she hadn't yet bled my mom dry enough.

[gvstn]

5. This is a complicated story

And I may not have all the details. I believe he gave the kids a legal directive to make medical decisions for him should he be incapacitated. This was maybe a decade ago. Now, that he is incapacitated the wife says he rewrote his will or other legal document and gave her the power over his medical care. They had not been informed of this.

She is also not allowing them visitation. She may be afraid of them influencing him to change his will (they apparently get little or nothing) but I would think at this point in his disease a sudden change of will could be contested.

I side with the kids. They should be able to see their father for reasonable amounts of time during his illness. I realize people get obnoxious over inheritances but she has lawyers that can protect her. Keeping someone from their dying parent just seems wrong.

[Tikki]

6. At a time when the whole family should be working together, sadly, they are not….

and it is up to a judge to make the situation work.

It is just sad. Mr. Kasem probably doesn't even understand what is going on with his family.

I can't see where moving him all over the place is actually in his best interest, though.

If Jean Kasem has legit reasons to be concerned about her husband's children and his well being
she needs to deal with it where the family has called home.


Tikki

[Gormy Cuss]

7. She blocked his children from seeing him and apparently the court sided with the kids.

That suggests that they demonstrated their case.

[tammywammy]

8. From what I've read

There was a legal agreement for visitation from the children with their father. Also the wife's lawyer said Monday he didn't know where Casey was, that's why the judge gave the daughter control. Also the children have repeatedly said they have no plans to contest the will or want the money, they just want to see their dad.