Gig Harbor hospital: Casey Kasem alert but in critical condition

GIG HARBOR, Wash. -- Radio legend Casey Kasem is in critical condition, a spokesman for St. Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor  said Thursday.

"Mr. Kasem is alert and appears comfortable at this time," Scott Thompson said.

The 82-year-old former host of "American Top 40" and "Casey's Top 40" is receiving antibiotics through IVs, blood pressure support medicine and care for complications from his bed sores, Thompson said.

Kasem was admitted to the hospital Sunday after one of his daughters and an ambulance crew picked him up from the Kitsap County home where he and his wife were staying with friends.

"Any further updates on Mr. Kasem's condition will be at the discretion and approval of his children," Thompson said.

The radio icon has been at the center of a family feud between Jean Kasem, his wife of 34 years, and his three children from his first marriage.

Kerri Kasem; her sister, Julie; and their brother, Mike Kasem, have contended since last year that Jean Kasem has prevented the three siblings from visiting their father.

Kasem has a common type of progressive dementia.

He had been at a facility in Santa Monica, Calif.,, before Jean Kasem took him to Washington state after his daughter Kerri Kasem won temporary conservatorship over her father's care.

Last week, a Washington court granted Kerri Kasem the right to visit her father one hour a day and to have him examined by a doctor.

On Friday afternoon, a Kitsap County judge will continue the hearing and get an update on the situation.