Casey Kasem Teaches Lesson On End Of Life

Casey, Kerri Kasem

It appears that the life of famed Top 40 Countdown host Casey Kasem is nearly at an end.  Wednesday, a Los Angeles Judge ruled that Casey Kasem’s daughter, Kerri Kasem, could suspend the artificial delivery of food and water to Casey due to his grave suffering.

Specifically, according to Forbes, Kerri Kasem’s attorney filed documents with the court reporting the doctors’ conclusion that “continuation of artificial nutrition and hydration is not in the patient’s best interests because it will at best prolong the dying process for him and will certainly add suffering to an already terribly uncomfortable dying process.”

He has been hospitalized in critical condition with sepsis (serious infections that have reached the blood stream), other infections, bed sores, and late-stage dementia from Lewy Body disease, among other complications.

The reason that Kerri was able to win legal authority to end Casey’s suffering stems from a legal document he signed in 2007, called a health care directive.  Sometimes, documents of this nature are called living wills or medical power of attorney, but they all can play the same role — allowing a trusted loved one to end life support when it appears that the suffering is too severe and the hope of recovery too slim.

In 2007, after Casey Kasem was diagnosed with Lewy Body disease, he executed such a document and appointed Kerri, his daughter from a prior marriage, instead of his wife, Jean, to make his medical and end-of-life decisions.  The document stated that Casey did 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.”  Casey’s document nominated Kerri, not Jean, to make the important decision of when it was time to honor this wish and effectively end Casey’s life.

Hopefully Casey Kasem’s dramatic story can teach important lessons to others.  Every adult over the age of 18 — especially older adults — need to execute health care directive documents, such as Casey Kasem’s, in case they ever suffer a debilitating injury or disease.  Very few people would want to suffer indefinitely with no quality of life or reasonable hope of recovery.  Because Casey planned ahead and chose the person he most trusted to make the right decision, his suffering can now end.

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