LOS ANGELES - With Britney Spears whisked out of the public spotlight Thursday and committed to a hospital
psychiatric ward,
it’s now up to a team of professional caregivers to reverse her seemingly endless downward spiral. Spears, accompanied by more than a dozen police officers, was taken to the UCLA
Medical Center before dawn Thursday in what one officer would only say was an effort to “get help” for the troubled pop star. It was her second 72-hour commitment in four weeks, though her previous stay lasted less than two days and was followed by more strange episodes that have accompanied her divorce and bruising child custody battle.
A plan was reportedly in place in the event Spears needed medical attention, People reports. “Something like this has been in the works since the (last trip to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center). She has been seeing her psychiatrist every day,” the source said. “No one thought this would happen this soon, but it was clear if she stayed up for more than three days she''d have to get sent, since that could cause real damage. The last time she slept was Saturday.”
The law allows a person to be placed on an involuntary
psychiatric hold for up to 72 hours if they are believed to be a danger to themselves or others. Spears’ mother, Lynne Spears, was seen leaving the medical center’s psychiatric hospital about 5:30 a.m. Asked if her daughter was all right, she replied, “Yeah.”Under the law, doctors may keep an individual under round-the-clock observation but may not medicate the person without his or her permission unless there appears to be grave danger, said Dr. Bruce Spring, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Southern California.
Spears’ public emotional spiral began in November 2006 when she filed for divorce from Kevin Federline, the father of her infant sons, 1-year-old Jayden James and 2-year-old Sean Preston. Earlier this week, she was videotaped speaking in a faux British accent as she ordered Lutfi out of the driver’s seat of her black Mercedez-Benz, shouting at him, “I want to drive my f------ car.” At other times she has arrived at public events in short skirts and without underwear, shaved her head bald, ran over a photographer’s foot, left the scene of a fender bender, flogged another car with an umbrella and abandoned a car in traffic when it had a flat tire. Earlier this week, she was photographed holding her pet dog and crying. Spears was hospitalized on Jan. 3 after police were called to her home when she refused to return her children to Federline following a visit. That episode resulted in her losing custody of her sons.