Radio personality Casey Kasem, who is at the center of a legal battle between family members over his care, was in critical condition at a Washington state hospital with an infected bed sore, a hospital spokesman said.
_0">Kasem, 82, was brought to the emergency room at St Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor, Washington, on Sunday suffering from the infection and was admitted that day, hospital spokesman Scott Thompson said in a written statement.
"Mr. Kasem is receiving wound care, intravenous antibiotic therapy, blood pressure support medication as well as treatment for his pain," Thompson said. "Mr. Kasem is alert, appears comfortable at this time."
Thompson said the hospital was releasing details about Kasem's condition to counter what he called "misinformation" that had been published in the media. He did not elaborate on that misinformation.
Danny Deraney, a spokesman for Kasem's three children from his first marriage, said that the deejay's daughters, Kerri and Julie, were at their father's side and that his son, Mike, was en route to Washington.
Kasem, most famous for his weekly top 40 countdown radio show and as the voice of Shaggy on the "Scooby-Doo" cartoons, suffers from Lewy body disease, a form of dementia with symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease and hallucinations.
Kasem's children from a first marriage and his wife, Jean Kasem, have been locked in a legal tussle over his care and visitation rights.
Las week a judge ordered that Kerri Kasem be granted daily visits with the ailing radio personality during that legal battle, which escalated earlier in May when she and her sister filed court papers saying that they didn't know his whereabouts.
Several days later, sheriff's deputies in Kitsap County located him and Jean Kasem there. Further proceedings in the case are scheduled for late June.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Sandra Maler)